ii  HI! 


LEARNING  BY  DOING 


LEARNING  BY 
DOING 


By 
EDGAR  JAMES  SWIFT 

Professor  of  Psychology  and  Education  in  Washington  University,  St.  Loui* 
Author  of  "Mind  in  the  Making"  and  "Youth  and  the  Race" 


SECOND  EDITION 


WITH  INTRODUCTION 

BY  M.  V.  O'SHEA 

Professor  of  Education,  The  University  of  Wisconsin 
Editor  Childhood  and  Youth  Series 


INDIANAPOLIS 

THE  BOBBS-MERRILL  COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS 


COPYRIGHT  1914  ^  \ 

THE  BOBBS-MERRILL  COMPANY 


PRESS    OF 

BRAUNWORTH   &    CO. 

BOOKBINDERS    AND    PRINTERS 

BROOKLYN,    N.   Y* 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION 

The  chief  business  of  the  child  and  of  the  youth 
in  American  life  to-day  is  to  master  some  portion 
of  the  knowledge  and  the  skill  which  our  ancestors 
have  found  of  service  in  their  experiences  in  the  art 
of  living ;  and  it  follows  that  the  chief  problems  of 
the  parent  and  the  teacher  have  to  do  with  helping 
the  young  to  acquire  this  knowledge  and  skill  in  an 
economical  and  effective  manner.  No  one  in  our 
time,  who  is  at  all  familiar  with  the  matter,  can 
doubt  that  both  the  child  and  his  instructor,  whether 
he  be  parent  or  teacher,  have  to  deal  with  a  very 
complicated  situation  in  the  present-day  home  and 
school.  There  is  a  constantly  increasing  body  of 
material  to  be  learned,  and  the  period  for  learning 
it  is  not  being  extended,  so  that  it  is  becoming  ever 
more  imperative  for  those  who  instruct  the  young 
to  adopt  methods  of  procedure  which  will  enable  the 
novice  to  master  what  he  must  learn  without  waste 
of  time  or  energy.  This  is,  of  course,  an  ideal 
which  has  not  yet  been  attained  in  any  of  our  edu- 
cational work,  as  every  student  of  education  and 
every  intelligent  parent  and  teacher  knows  very 
well.  But  we  are  certainly  making  progress.  We 
are  discovering  from  time  to  time  how  to  guide  the 
child  so  that  he  will  appropriate  the  more  readily 
and  competently  what  we  believe  we  ought  to  teach 
him.  Doubtless  most  of  those  who  will  read  these 
lines  have  witnessed  marked  changes  in  the  teach- 
ing of  practically  every  subject  in  the  curriculum  of 
the  elementary  and  the  high  school;  and  probably 
these  changes  have  all  been  in  the  direction  of  at- 
taining greater  economy  and  efficiency  in  educa- 
tional work. 

418774 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION 

But  the  end  is  not  yet ;  it  is  probable,  indeed,  that 
the  principal  work  of  improvement  in  teaching  proc- 
esses is  still  ahead  of  us.  Surely  there  has  never 
been  a  time,  in  any  age  or  place,  when  educational 
curricula  and  methods  have  been  studied  by  such 
precise  methods  as  are  being  employed  right  now, 
both  at  home  and  abroad.  It  is  becoming  clearer 
every  day  that  the  whole  business  of  teaching  is  so 
complex  that  the  practical  teacher  can  not  solve  the 
problems  of  the  schoolroom,  because  his  time  and 
energy  must  be  expended  in  doing  the  best  he  can 
according  to  the  prevailing  and  generally  accepted 
views  of  instruction.  The  practitioner  needs  the 
assistance  of  the  investigator,  who  will  delve  deeply 
into  one  or  another  of  the  problems  arising  out  of 
the  necessity  of  leading  the  young  to  master  a  great 
many  things  in  such  a  way  that  they  can  make  use 
of  them  in  bettering  their  adjustment  to  the  world 
of  people  and  of  things  environing  them. 

For  a  number  of  years  Professor  Edgar  James 
Swift  has  been  conducting  experiments  for  the  pur- 
pose of  gaining  some  accurate  data  pertaining  to 
the  more  subtle  phases  of  the  processes  of  acquiring 
certain  kinds  of  knowledge,  and  mastering  certain 
manual  activities.  In  this  work  he  has  had  a  prac- 
tical end  in  view,  so  that  his  researches  have  related 
more  or  less  directly  to  the  problems  which  the 
teacher  encounters  in  giving  her  pupils  instruction 
in  any  school  subject.  As  a  result  of  his  investiga- 
tions, Professor  Swift  has  apparently  shown  that  a 
pupil  does  not  pursue  a  regular,  unbroken  and  uni- 
form course  in  the  mastery  of  any  study,  but  in- 
stead he  seems  to  proceed  rapidly  at  one  period  of 
his  learning,  and  slowly  or  not  at  all  at  another 
period.  In  the  present  volume,  Professor  Swift 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION 

describes  his  own  experiments  and  those  of  other 
investigators,  and  he  points  out  how  the  results  of 
these  inquiries  may  explain  some  of  the  phenomena 
of  the  class  room  that  are  often  perplexing  to  the 
teacher.  He  also  makes  suggestions  respecting  the 
teaching  of  the  various  school  studies  which  should 
be  of  assistance  to  all  who  instruct  the  young,  in 
enabling  them  particularly  to  help  pupils  over  the 
periods  of  retardation  in  their  learning, — the  "pla- 
teau periods,"  as  they  are  coming  to  be  styled  in 
present-day  psychological  literature. 

Professor  Swift's  book  is  wholly  constructive. 
It  is  also  appreciative.  He  gives  evidence  in  every 
chapter  of  his  volume  that  he  is  aware  of  the  dif- 
ficulties under  which  the  parent  and  teacher  work, 
and  his  purpose  is,  first,  to  assist  them  to  under- 
stand the  child  whom  they  must  instruct,  in  respect 
to  certain  of  his  interests  and  tendencies  and  intel- 
lectual traits,  and,  second,  to  show  what  relation 
the  learner  must  assume  toward  the  things  he  is 
required  to  learn  in  order  that  he  may  gain  them 
with  as  little  resistance  and  as  great  efficiency  as 
possible.  All  the  matters  treated  are  presented  in  a 
simple  and  direct,  but  lively  style,  and  in  non- 
technical language;  and  it  may  be  hoped  that  the 
book  will  find  its  way  into  the  hands  of  many  par- 
ents and  teachers,  who  can  hardly  fail  to  be  inter- 
ested in  and  profited  by  reading  it. 

M.  V.  O'SHEA. 

Madison,  Wisconsin. 


PREFACE 

The  industrial  and  commercial  changes  which 
have  followed  one  another  in  rapid  succession  dur- 
ing the  last  three  or  four  decades  have  brought  in 
their  wake  new  educational  problems.  As  a  direct 
outgrowth  of  these  changes  comes  the  insistent  de- 
mand for  a  reorganization  of  our  public  schools 
that  they  may  better  fit  children  to  meet  the  new 
conditions. 

Superintendents  and  boards  of  education  have 
tried  to  satisfy  the  new  requirements  by  enlarging 
the  curriculum  and,  in  some  cases,  by  introducing 
vocational  guidance  and  training.  The  writer  is  in 
hearty  agreement  with  the  spirit  of  these  changes, 
but  he  also  believes  that  the  manner  of  conducting 
the  work  of  the  school  may  be  improved,  and  it  is 
with  this  question,  together  with  progress  and  econ- 
omy in  learning,  that  the  present  book  is  chiefly  con- 
cerned. Why  should  the  school  program  be  sepa- 
rated into  the  subjects  which  the  children  learn  by 
doing  and  those  which  they  learn  from  the  teacher's 
instruction  and  from  books?  Why  could  not  both 
methods  be  combined?  The  writer  is  of  the  opin- 
ion that  the  principle  of  "learning  by  doing"  is 
applicable  to  all  the  studies  of  the  school  and  that  it 
should  cease  to  be  merely  an  attachment  to  school 
methods,  to  be  used  in  certain  subjects,  such  as  man- 
ual training,  and  in  a  few  others  on  "laboratory 
days."  The  instruction  from  teacher  and  books 
should  accompany  or  follow  the  achievements  of  the 
pupils  in  the  things  they  are  trying  to  do.  In  this 
way  instruction  assumes  its  proper  role,  that  of 
putting  meaning  into  the  work  in  which  the  pupils 


PREFACE 

are  Engaged,  ancl  of  making  it  more  intelligible. 
The  writer  has  tried  to  show  by  illustrations  of  or- 
ganized group-work  how  this  may  be  done. 

Another  consequence  of  the  new  industrial  era  is 
the  attempt  to  shorten  the  educational  period  pre- 
ceding self-support.  This  early  entrance  into  indus- 
try is  likely  to  end  by  depriving  children  of  much 
of  their  childhood,  and  the  question  is  therefore 
pertinent  whether  the  two  aims — to  conserve  child- 
hood and  to  prepare  for  the  serious  problems  of 
adult  life — may  not  be  combined  in  an  educational 
program  that  preserves  the  advantage  of  each. 

The  writer  gratefully  acknowledges  his  indebted- 
ness to  Miss  Caroline  G.  Soule,  of  Brookline,  Mas- 
sachusetts, who  kindly  read  the  manuscript  and 
made  many  valuable  suggestions.  E  T  S 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I  THE  REVOLT  FROM  MONOTONY 1 

The  romantic  spirit  of  youth — An  error  of 
judgment — Demand  for  early  self-support — Pur- 
pose of  this  chapter — The  discord  between  play 
and  industry — Children  unaffected  by  derived 
adult  interests — Why  adults  read  books  of  ad- 
venture— The  perennial  zest  for  sports — Its  sci- 
entific explanation — Other  illustrations  of  adult 
obedience  to  instinct — An  attempt  to  get  adult 
recall  of  child's  view-point — Opinion  of  a  young 
teacher — Another  reminiscence — A  different  type 
of  experience — The  experience  of  a  country-bred 
teacher — The  desire  for  adventure  among  girls — 
Simple  methods  of  reformation — Further  proof 
of  revolt  from  monotony — Connection  between 
monotony  and  popular  amusements — Need  of 
real  action  in  schools — Contrasting  school  meth- 
ods; their  results — View  of  a  reformed  bandit — 
Necessity  of  control  of  racial  instincts — Sugges- 
tions concerning  teaching  of  natural  sciences — 
Memorizing  versus  thinking — How  to  prevent 
imitative  thinking — Prerequisites  of  thinking — 
The  source  of  interest — Activity  a  constant  fac- 
tor in  mental  growth — Inactivity  a  state  of  insta- 
bility— Reports  of  recreation  surveys — A  guide  to 
utilizing  instincts — Reasons  for  successful  truant 
schools — Transference  of  enthusiasm — Difference 
in  mind  content  of  children  and  adults — Instincts 
as  starting-point  for  interest — Importance  of  ac- 
tion for  healthy  emotions — Unlimited  opportunity 
for  teachers — Experience  in  terms  of  adventure 
— Conclusion. 

II  EFFICIENT  TEACHING 36 

Difficulty  of  defining  human  efficiency — Differ- 
ence between  human  and  animal  educability — 
First  essential  of  efficient  teaching — Two  meth- 
ods of  approach  to  task — Faults  of  first  method — 
A  paradox  and  an  explanation — An  illustration 
of  good  judgment — An  example  of  wise  adapt- 
ability— Application  of  principle  of  teacher  adapt- 
ability— Another  illustration  from  a  school— 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  ?AQ£ 

Flexibility  of  method  is  not  caprice — Two  guid- 
ing principles  in  efficient  teaching — Connection 
between  adaptation  and  economy  of  effort — Con- 
nection between  unconscious  adaptation  and  bad 
habits — Teachers'  responsibility  in  formation  of 
habits — Danger  from  sentimentality — The  impor- 
tance of  beginnings — The  importance  of  few- 
rules —  A  test  of  habits  of  thinking  —  More 
about  training  in  thinking — A  test  which  shows 
children  are  not  taught  to  think — An  investiga- 
tion and  its  conclusions — Another  investigation 
— A  gage  of  good  teaching — The  use  of  a 
study  program — An  experiment  in  suggestion — 
Results  of  an  investigation  of  home  work — Need 
of  more  pupil  initiative — Reports  of  school  sur- 
veys on  initiative — Conclusions  from  these  exper- 
iments— Another  view  of  teacher  efficiency — the 
art  of  questioning — An  investigation  of  this  art 
— The  resulting  data — Lack  of  questions  from 
pupils  found  by  school  surveys — The  danger  of 
rapid  questioning — Concerning  the  form  of  ques- 
tions— Concerning  the  monopoly  of  time  by 
teachers — Kernel  of  efficient  teaching — train  chil- 
dren to  think. 

Ill    GETTING  RESULTS       .      .      .      .      T      .      .      .      66 

Progress  through  trial  and  error  method — Suc- 
cessful experiments  dependent  upon  mental  atti- 
tude—Experience that  counts — Education  as  inter- 
pretation- of  life — Contentment  fatal — Exhilara- 
tion of  real  experiments — Learning  to  know 
one's  self  through  experiments — Illustration — An 
experiment  in  composition — Response  of  children 
— Some  details  of  plan — A  result — Another 
"chapter" — Effect  of  experiment  on  teacher  and 
children — An  incident  about  a  physics  class — 
Cause  of  their  enthusiasm  —  Town-meeting 
method  of  teaching  history — Similar  plan  of 
organization — How  the  plan  was  carried  out — 
Absentees  dealt  with  by  the  class — Work  di- 
rected by  pupils — Concerning  discipline — Results 
of  plan — Growth  in  power  to  think — Improve- 
ment in  manners — A  result  of  responsibility — An- 
other experiment  in  pupil-government — Plan  of 
work  for  senior  class — Plan  of  organization  of 
junior  class — Spirit  of  their  work — Moral  effect 
of  pupil-government — An  experiment  in  Greek 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

history — Outline  of  plan — Order  of  business — 
The  value  of  resolutions — An  experiment  in 
teaching  Latin — Plan  of  organization — Value  of 
inscriptions — Platforms  of  parties — Effect  on 
regular  work — A  significant  fact — A  proof  of 
interest — Facts  about  this  experiment  eight  years 
later — The  common  factor  of  success  in  these 
experiments — Their  constructive  importance. 

IV  PROGRESS  IN  LEARNING 100 

Logical  arrangement  not  always  the  pedagog- 
ical— Failure  of  logical  method  in  teaching  gram- 
mar—Laws of  learning  a  recent  discovery — Gen- 
eral laws  of  learning  and  variations — Illustra- 
tions of  irregularity  of  learning  process — Pla- 
teaus in  learning  process — These  plateaus  inev- 
itable— Description  of  curve  of  learning  from  a 
psychology  class — Explanation  of  the  curve  for 
embryology — Form  of  curve  dependent  on  nature 
of  task  and  fitness  of  learner — An  experiment  in 
learning  Russian — Similarity  in  results  of  two 
experiments — Relation  of  high  score  to  learner's 
rate  of  progress — Variations  in  maximum  effort 
— Some  instances  of  variations — "Warming  up" 
period — A  study  of  the  learning  process  in  a  busi- 
ness house-pDescription  of  methods  of  the  firm 
— Characteristics  of  curves  of  learning  in  class 
room  and  in  business  concern — Monotony  a  fac- 
tor in  retardation — Uneven  progress  of  the  men- 
tal processes — Unconscious  element  in  learning 
— Progress  through  elimination  of  the  useless — 
Higher  and  lower  orders  of  habits — Tendency  to 
return  to  lower  ^  order  of  habits — Plateaus  as 
periods  of  assimilation — Views  of  other  experi- 
menters— A  different  explanation — Time  neces- 
sary for  fixing  associations — A  memory  experi- 
ment— Explanation  of  memory  curves — Compari- 
son of  original  experiment  and  memory  test. 

V  ECONOMY  IN  LEARNING 132 

Advantage  to  teacher  of  study  of  learning  proc- 
ess— Relation  of  teacher  and  pupil  in  economy 
of  learning — Concerning  new  ideas  in  education 
— Two  methods  of  getting  results — A  third 
method — An  alliance  between  teacher  and  child 
— Effect  of  mental  attitude — Importance  of  group 
•entiment — Importance  of  winning  leader  of  the 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

gang — Comparison  of  boys  and  girls — The  spirit 
of  the  school — Progress  dependent  on  bodily  and 
mental  condition  of  learner — Physical  unfitness 
a  cause  of  reversion  to  lower  order  of  habits — 
Economy  in  learning — A  plea  for  more  efficient 
use  of  time,  with  a  physiological  explanation — A 
suggestion  for  getting  results — Utilization  of  en- 
thusiasm— Other  hindrances  to  learning — An  ex- 
periment— Importance  of  encouraging  discrim- 
ination— The  unconscious  factor  in  the  learning 
process — The  right  moment  to  help  the  learner — 
Illustrations — Overlapping  of  higher  and  lower 
orders  of  habits — Encouragement  of  individuality 
^— Cause  of  interfering  associations — Importance 
of  nascent  habits — The  plateau  as  a  protest  against 
cramming — Curve  of  learning  for  a  pupil  in  Eng- 
lish grammar — Description  of  curve — Confusion 
of  ideas — The  use  of  tests  at  this  time — Plateaus 
a  signal  for  special  drill — Effect  of  monotony  on 
plateaus— Suggestions  to  offset  monotony — Time 
a  factor  in  growth  of  experience. 

VI    HABIT  IN  LEARNING  AND  ACHIEVEMENT     .      .      .      166 

Our  inherited  view-point — Futility  of  classifica- 
tion— Inadequacy  of  settled  ideas — Conservatism 
and  habit — Conservatism  illustrated  by  history — 
Difference  between  nervous  system  of  man  and 
lower  animals — Discrimination  a  test  of  mental 
development — An  illustration — Experience  as  in- 
terpretation of  events — Intelligence  means  varia- 
bility in  habits — Notable  failures  of  conventional 
judgment — Their  explanation — Business  men  as 
well  as  teachers  habit-bound — The  difficulty  of 
changing  habits — Walter  Bagehot  on  conservatism 
— The  release  of  mental  forces — Warning  against 
automatic  habits — How  teachers  may  prevent 
fixed  habits  of  thought — Habits  of  behavior — 
Program  suggested  by  Boy  Scouts  movement — 
Explanation  of  its  influence — A  power  worth  util- 
izing— Use  of  pupil-government — A  misconcep- 
tion about  pupil-government — Fascination  of  or- 
ganizing— Reasons  for  success  of  various  forms 
of  pupil-government — Habit  and  school  environ- 
ment— Similarity  between  task  of  a  teacher  and 
.  of  a  general — Importance  of  right  school  atmos- 
phere— Laxness  of  discipline — The  basis  of  good 
school  habits. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PACK 

VII    NEW  DEMANDS  ON  THE  SCHOOLS         .«     •      .      .195 

Two  types  of  books  on  education — Timorous 
thinking — The  utilitarian  and  the  philosophic 
ideals  of  education — Harmonizing  the  two  views 
— Animal  education  defined  by  adaptation — Limi- 
tations of  animal  adaptation — Difference  in  mean- 
ing of  animal  and  human  adaptation — The  advan- 
tage of  human  imagination — Imitation  and  ineffi- 
ciency— Adaptation  directed  by  intelligence — The 
school  and  community — Change,  a  characteristic 
of  the  age — Success  dependent  on  rapid  read- 
aptation — Instances — Significance  for  schools  of 
social  and  industrial  changes — Difficulty  of  mod- 
ern home  in  training  for  life — Task  of  schools 
to  supplement  failure  of  home-y-The  home  in  edu- 
cation fifty  years  ago — Education  through  action 
• — The  farm  as  a  workshop  and  a  laboratory — 
Failure  of  modern  substitutes  for  farm — Facts 
about  business  failures — Imagination  and  busi- 
ness— Rapid  adjustment  essential — Other  types  of 
failure — Mental  flexibility  and  success — Problems 
of  big  business  concerns — Changes  in  wholesale 
grocery  business — Changes  in  woodenware  busi- 
ness— How  scientific  management  works,  out — 
Further  details — A  result  of  inefficient  method — 
A  result  of  scientific  management — Education 
for  efficiency — Successful  methods — Originality 
and  efficiency — Conclusion. 

REFERENCES  FOR  FURTHER  READING        .....    229 
INDEX       ..:     >j     >;     .*,     ..,     *      *:     .«     >     ••.      «     .•    241 


LEARNING  BY  DOING 


LEARNING  BY  DOING 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  REVOLT  FROM  MONOTONY 


THAT   was   a   fine   appreciation   of   boyhood 
dreams  and  thrills  which  Robert  Louis  Ste- 
venson showed  in  his  Gossip  on  Romance:   "Give 
The  romantic  Hie  a  highwayman,"  he  said,  "and 

spirit  of  youth  I  was  full  to  the  brim ;  a  Jacobite 
would  do,  but  the  highwayman  was  my  favorite 
dish.  I  can  still  hear  that  merry  clatter  of  the 
hoofs  along  the  moonlit  lane;  night  and  the  com- 
ing of  day  are  still  related  in  my  mind  with  the 
doings  of  John  Rann  or  Jerry  Abershaw;  and  the 
words  'postchaise/  the  'great  North  road/  'ostler/ 
and  'nag/  still  sound  in  my  ears  like  poetry.  One 
and  all,  at  least,  and  each  with  his  particular  fancy, 
we  read  story-books  in  childhood,  not  for  eloquence 
or  character  or  thought,  but  for  some  quality  of 
the  brute  incident.  .  .  .  Certain  dank  gardens  cry 
aloud  for  a  murder;  certain  old  houses  demand  to 

1 


2  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

be  haunted ;  certain  coasts  are  set  apart  for  ship- 
wreck." 

One  need  only  look  into  any  city  back  yard  on 
almost  any  fine  day  to  realize  the  perennial  per* 
sistence  of  this  quest  for  adventure.  For  country 
children  life  is  fairly  aquiver  with  vivid  experience. 
Only  a  few  weeks  ago  while  in  the  country  I  came 
across  a  group  of  boys  and  girls — the  oldest,  a  boy, 
was  just  past  ten — decked  out  with  feathers  and 
carrying  wooden  knives  for  scalping  the  long-haired 
girls,  and  toy  guns  with  which  they  were  shooting 
two  innocent  little  puppies  who  indiscreetly  insisted 
on  coming  back  to  life.  The  camp-fire  was  a  more 
ingenious  invention  than  I  had  yet  seen.  It  was  a 
pile  of  dry  brush  with  red  flowers  for  fire,  because 
the  children  had  no  matches.  Such  is  the  imagina- 
tion of  childhood. 

Conscience  and  convention,  often  synonymous 
terms,  will  have  many  sins  to  explain  away  on 
An  error  of  the  day  °f  judgment,  but  not 

of  judgment  their  least  offense  is  unthinking 

condemnation  of  feelings  and  thoughts  and  acts 
which  surge  up  in  children  from  the  stormy  life 
of  the  far  distant  past  when  war  and  slaughter 
made  up  the  usual  daily  routine,  and  pillage  was 
but  a  vacation's  rest  from  the  more  strenuous  ex- 
ertions of  man's  customary  business  engagements. 
Children  suffer  most  from  this  assumed  austerity 
because  their  lives,  when  passed  in  normal  sur- 
roundings, are  but  day-dreams  of  camp-fires,  forays 


THE  REVOLT  FROM  MONOTONY      3 

and  scouting,  with  occasional  tomahawking  and 
scalping  excursions  thrown  in  for  coloring. 

Of  course  the  conventional  view  does  not  refuse 
such  sports  to  children  when  conditions  are  favor- 
Demand  for  early  able,  but  games  are  not  regarded 
self-support  as  an  essential  element  of  normal 

growth  and  so  are  not  included  in  the  plan  of  edu- 
cation. All  educators  agree  on  the  importance  of 
childhood's  freedom,  so  as  to  give  the  nerve  cen- 
ters time  to  mature  before  the  strains  of  business 
life  are  put  upon  them,  but  the  demand  is  insistent 
for  rapid  preparation  of  children  for  self-support. 
One  evidence  for  this  demand  is  the  loud  call  for 
vocational  training.  Since  the  apprentice  system 
passed  away  in  the  industrial  reconstruction  no  ad- 
equate plan  for  combining  study  and  work  has 
been  found  to  take  its  place.  The  result  is  increas- 
ing dissatisfaction  with  the  length  of  time  needed 
after  finishing  school  to  prepare  for  profitable  em- 
ployment.* It  is  not  the  present  purpose  of  the 
writer  to  argue  the  wisdom  of  this  view.  Changed 
conditions  often  put  requirements  upon  us  which  it 
is  useless  to  oppose.  Vain  resistance  to  new  social 
and  industrial  demands  loses  time  which  could  bet- 
ter be  used  in  planning  to  meet  the  change  intelli- 
gently instead  of  drifting.  Whether  we  believe 
the  claims  of  industry  wise  or  not,  vocational  train- 
ing is  now  a  factor  to  be  reckoned  with. 

*The  writer  is,  of  course,  aware  of  the  combination  of 
shop  and  school  work  in  certain  towns  and  cities.  But  the 
plan  has  not  become  general  enough  to  quiet  the  clamor. 


4  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

.    '  *  ^  «,         .  x 

.       ;.      /  '  *     ^ 

If,  therefore,  the  opinion  still  prevails  that  child- 
hood has  its  rights  to  freedom  of  thought  and 
Purpose  of  this  action,  the  coming  of  vocational 
chapter  training  gives  us  a  new  problem 

for  solution.  How  may  childhood  be  conserved  in 
the  shorter  cut  to  self-support?  This  is  a  problem 
for  teachers,  and  one  of  the  purposes  of  the  present 
chapter  is  to  reexamine  the  claims  of  childhood 
to  see  whether  a  deeper  knowledge  of  its  needs 
may  not  enable  us  to  secure  aid  for  our  work  in 
education  from  the  very  instincts  which  are  often 
thought  to  be  in  opposition  to  the  school.  If  we 
succeed  in  finding  such  assistance  we  shall  gain  a 
double  advantage  through  increasing  the  output  of 
education  and,  at  the  same  time,  satisfying  the  in- 
stinctive needs  of  childhood. 

A  certain  amount  of  leisure  is  needed  that  play 
may  have  its  place,  but  the  severe  industrial  life 

The  discord  be-  °f  tO"day  is  nOt  favorable  to  com- 
tween  industry  plete  relaxation.  Among  men 

*"d  Play  Who  labor  by  the  day,  if  their 

children's  help  is  not  required  to  make  ends  meet 
they  needs  must  work  when  school  is  over;  and 
even  with  the  well-to-do  few  plans  are  made  beyond 
giving  children  the  freedom  of  the  streets.  Were 
it  necessary  to  argue  the  lack  of  interest  in  activ- 
ities that  make  for  normal  growth  the  difficulty 
of  securing  parks  and  playgrounds  might  be  men- 
tioned. Schoolhouses,  also,  are  built  within  enclo* 


THE  REVOLT  FROM  MONOTONY       5 

Sures  hardly  large  enough  in  which  to  pack  the 
children. 

Children  have  not  yet  acquired  the  derived  inter- 
ests which  in  later  life  will  dominate  thought  and 

action.    There  are  few  men  even 
Children  unaf-  .  .  . 

fccted  by  derived    who  do  not  at  times  begin  their 
adult  interests          day,g   WQrk   with   rcgret      what 

keeps  them  at  their  tasks  is  desire  for  reputation 
among  thinkers  in  their  field,  or  standing  in  the 
business  world,  or  habit,  which  will  not  loose  its 
hold,  if  not  the  lower  wish  for  money.  Such  de- 
rived interests  as  these  which  keep  men  regretfully 
at  their  work  have  not  yet  taken  possession  of  chil- 
dren in  school.  Their  thoughts  and  interests  are 
those  that  give  pleasure  at  the  moment  and  to 
these  they  yield  undisputed  power.  Their  estimate 
of  the  things  in  which  adults  engage  is  pictured 
by  Kenneth  Grahame's  rollicking  youngsters:  "On 
the  whole,  the  existence  of  these  Olympians 
[adults]  seemed  to  be  entirely  void  of  interests, 
even  as  their  movements  were  confined  and  slow, 
and  their  habits  stereotyped  and  senseless.  .  .  .  They 
never  set  foot  within  fir-wood  or  hazel-copse,  nor 
dreamt  of  the  marvels  hid  therein.  .  .  .  They  were 
unaware  of  Indians,  nor  recked  they  anything  of 
bisons  or  of  pirates  (with  pistols!),  though  the 
whole  place  swarmed  with  such  portents.  They 
cared  not  about  exploring  for  robbers'  caves,  nor 
for  hidden  treasure/' 


6  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

Despite  their  sober  exterior  and  seemingly  "ster- 
eotyped and  senseless  habits,"  most  of  these  Olym- 
pians are  as  ready  to  slip  away 
Why  adults  read      f  ,   i      «          o 

books  of  ad-  into  the  enchanted  land  as  Ste- 

vcnture  venson  has  so  entertainingly  ad- 

mitted for  himself.  Not  many  adults,  however, 
acknowledge  as  boldly  as  he  does  the  absorbing 
fascination  of  adventures  but,  if  one  observes 
groups  of  men  and  women  "off  duty"  for  a  week 
or  two,  books  of  this  type,  'when  they  can  be  found, 
are  working  overhours.  It  has  been  the  writer's 
privilege  to  pass  several  summers  in  a  company  of 
over  fifty,  largely  college  graduates,  among  whom 
were  a  generous  proportion  of  college  professors 
and  secondary  school-teachers.  The  conspicuous 
fact  observed  concerning  their  reading  was  this  pre- 
dominance of  books  of  adventure.  Their  excuse 
was  that  these  stories  gave  most  complete  rest. 
Doubtless  this  was  true,  but  there  were  many  other 
books  at  hand  which  did  not  put  a  greater  strain 
on  thought.  Why  does  this  class  of  books  excel 
the  others  in  affording  rest?  The  popular  assump- 
tion that  relaxation  is  directly  proportional  to  for- 
getfulness  of  all  else  except  the  story  is  probably 
not  far  wrong.  If  this  is  true  we  are  again  reduced 
to  our  original  question:  why  do  stories  of  ad- 
venture hold  us  closer  than  other  sorts  of  books? 
To  be  specific  even  at  the  risk  of  seeming  ungrate- 
ful to  a  writer  who  has  been  a  solace  in  many 
a  weary  hour:  why  is  Sherlock  Holmes — who  re- 


THE  REVOLT  FROM  MONOTONY      7 

peats  his  two  or  three  stock  phrases  until  they  have 
become  popular  newspaper  jokes  and  who  is  as 
innocent  of  originality  as  a  desert  is  of  grass — 
presented  to  us  almost  yearly  by  a  new  publisher? 
Why,  again,  did  Mr.  Doyle,  after  murdering 
Holmes,  no  doubt  in  a  fit  of  anger  at  the  detective's 
lack  of  originality,  and  after  writing  his  memoirs, 
resurrect  him  in  a  third  volume?  There  can  be 
but  one  answer.  The  public  would  not  let  him 
stay  dead.  It  looks  as  though  Stevenson  were  not 
far  wrong  when  he  continues  in  his  Gossip  on 
Romance:  "Conduct  is  three  parts  of  life,  they  say; 
but  I  think  they  put  it  high.  There  is  a  vast  deal 
in  life  and  letters  both  which  is  not  immoral,  but 
simply  a-moral;  .  .  .  where  the  interest  turns,  not 
upon  what  a  man  shall  choose  to  do,  but  on  how 
he  manages  to  do  it ;  not  on  the  passionate  slips  and 
hesitations  of  the  conscience,  but  on  the  problems  of 
the  body  and  of  the  practical  intelligence,  in  clean, 
open-air  adventure,  the  shock  of  arms  or  the  diplo- 
macy of  life." 

But  the  case  for  the  hold  which  adventures  have 
on  us  is  not  closed  with  the  books  that  we  read. 
The  perennial  Why  are  certain  games  perennial  ? 
zest  for  sports  Recreation  is  the  usual  reason  of- 
fered for  the  enjoyment  of  sports,  but  this  does  not 
explain  the  striking  partiality  for  certain  kinds  of 
games.  Upward  of  forty  thousand  persons  regularly 
attend  the  Yale-Princeton,  Harvard- Yale  and  An- 
napolis-West Point  football  contests,  and  there 


S  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

have  been  records  of  nearly  twice  that  number.  A 
writer  in  the  Nineteenth  Century*  speaking  of  this 
game,  says:  "Thrice  during  the  last  season  the 
writer  witnessed  matches  in  violent  snow-storms; 
and  on  one  of  these  occasions,  with  snow  and  slush 
ankle  deep  on  the  ground,  the  downfall  was  so 
severe  that  a  layer  of  more  than  an  inch  of  snow 
accumulated  on  the  shoulders  and  hats  of  the  enthu- 
siasts, who  were  packed  so  closely  together  that 
they  could  not  move  to  disencumber  themselves." 
Why  this  uninterrupted  popularity  for  a  game 
which  has  been  played  in  England  since  the  thir- 
teenth century?  The  exciting  spectacles  of  the 
Roman  Circus  Maximus,  again,  drew,  at  times,  as 
many  as  four  hundred  eighty-five  thousand  spec- 
tators. 

Recent  investigationsf  seem  to  help  us  in  under- 
standing the  partiality  for  certain  types  of  games. 
Its  scientific  Practically  all  of  those  that  re- 

explanation  turn  as  inevitably  as  the  seasons 

had  their  counterpart  among  the  aborigines.  Hand- 
ball, basketball,  football,  tennis,  shinny  and  many 
others  were  played  in  some  form  by  those  who  pre- 
ceded us  on  this  continent.  There  can  be  but  one 
explanation  of  these  endless  games.  It  is  the  call 
of  the  race. 

Let  us,  however,  look  a  little  further.    Men  will 


*Vol.  32,  p.  622. 

t  Twenty-fourth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Amer- 
jctn  Ethnology. 


THE  REVOLT  FROM  MONOTONY      9 

eschew  comfortable  homes  and  hotels  equipped  with 

modern  conveniences  to  go  into 
Other  illustra-  . 

tions  of  adult  obe-  the  woods  and  live  in  log  cabins, 
dicnce  to  instinct  sleep;ng  on  shelves  made  from 

branches  of  trees  placed  close  enough  together  to 
prevent  the  occupant  from  falling  through,  without 
sheets,  and  covered  with  blankets  that  have  been 
used,  unwashed,  by  many  an  illustrious  hunter ;  and 
with  it  all  they  must  daub  their  faces  with  greasy 
tar  as  protection  against  ravenous  black  flies  until 
the  painted  savage  of  darkest  Africa  would  wel- 
come them  as  friends;  and  this  they  do  that  they 
may  hunt.  The  writer,  to  give  another  instance, 
has  seen  men  fishing  in  the  lakes  of  Northern  Wis- 
consin with  the  mosquitoes  so  thick  and  blood- 
thirsty on  their  faces  that  they  could  only  be  re- 
moved by  scraping  with  the  hand.  But  the  sport 
of  fishing  was  worth  it.  If  men  will  go  through 
such  torture  and  call  it  fun  there  must  be  something 
deep  down  in  their  nature  that  makes  it  worth  the 
game.  And  that  "something"  seems  to  be  the  prim- 
itive instincts  which  civilization  has  been  unable 
wholly  to  eradicate. 

We  have  been  speaking  of  men  with  business  or 
professional  interests  to  occupy  their  minds.  What, 
then,  is  the  situation  with  children  who,  as  we  know, 
have  not  yet  acquired  the  derived  interests  that 
look  to  the  future  and  whose  thoughts  and  feelings 
are  concerned  with  activities  similar  to  those  of 
early  man? 


io  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

In  order  to  ascertain  the  opinions  of  adults  on 
the  intensity  of  their  thoughts  and  feelings  about 

adventures    during    their    child- 
An  attempt  to  get 

adult  recall  of  the  hood,  the  author  wrote  to  several 
Child's  viewpoint  men  an(j  women  to  learn  their 

present  views.  All  of  those  from  whom  we  quote 
are,  or  have  been,  teachers,  and  their  experiences  of 
childhood,  analyzed  in  the  light  of  maturer  thought, 
with  help  from  the  observation  of  the  pupils  in  their 
schools,  are  especially  instructive. 

The  following  is  from  an  unusually  successful 
teacher  who  graduated  from  college  only  four  or 
five  years  ago.  So  it  can  not  be  said,  in  denial  of 
some  of  his  strong  statements,  that  "those  times 
have  passed." 

"I  sought  adventures  as  a  reaction  against  the 
monotony  of  boyhood.  Many  of  my  'adventures' 
Opinion  of  a  were  mischievous  acts  in  rebellion 

young  teacher  against  too  strict  school  discipline. 
Now  that  I  have  become  a  teacher  I  am  interested 
to  find  that  many  men  take  especial  pride  in  the 
trouble  which  they  caused  in  school.  I  myself  have 
never  felt  the  slightest  remorse  for  my  conduct  at 
that  time.  Why  does  this  feeling  exist?  Is  it  not 
because,  as  adults,  we  see  through  the  pretense  that 
such  acts  are  bad  and  realize  that  they  should  have 
been  directed  and  utilized  rather  than  suppressed? 
I  had  no  teacher  who  was  in  the  slightest  degree 
thoughtful  of  the  needs  of  boys  and  their  wish  to 
do  things.  The  only  person  who  took  any  interest^ 


THE  REVOLT  FROM  MONOTONY     II 

in  boy  nature  as  it  was,  and  appreciated  our  desire 
for  adventure,  was  a  Y.  M.  C.  A.  secretary  with 
whom  I  spent  two  years.  We  boys  would  have  died 
for  him.  All  of  my  teachers  seemed  to  have  the 
idea  that  a  boy  was  a  sort  of  wild  creature  and  the 
sooner  he  were  tamed  the  better.  And  the  figure 
may  be  applied  further — they  used  many  of  the 
methods  on  us  that  are  used  in  taming  wild  animals. 
I  must  admit  that  we  boys  were  often  mischievous 
under  the  leadership  of  the  secretary,  but  the  great 
contrast  is  that  afterward  we  were  genuinely  sorry 
for  what  we  did,  while  we  boasted  loudly  of  what 
we  had  done  at  school. 

"The  first  and  most  important  relation  of  a  teach- 
er to  his  pupils  is  that  of  mutual  respect.  A  pupil 
very  quickly  learns  whether  a  teacher  really  has  an 
interest  in  him  or  whether  he  is  simply  standing  as 
a  bulwark  of  the  law.  Hearing  the  racial  call  of 
children  for  adventure  has  not  caused  all  'troubles' 
to  disappear  from  my  class  room,  but  the  different 
atmosphere  creates  a  different  spirit,  and  the  'rebel- 
lious' feeling  does  not  arise.  The  work  of  the  pu- 
pils has  certainly  improved  both  in  quantity  and 
quality.  Boys  have  an  irresistible  desire  for  activ- 
ity. They  want  to  be  doing  something.  If  this 
desire  is  suppressed  they  are  likely  to  break  loose. 
Lack  of  sympathy  for  the  things  they  want  to  do 
draws  them  within  themselves  for  satisfaction.  At 
least  it  was  so  with  me,  and  I  think  that  I  observe 
the  same  tendency  in  school  children  to-day." 


I  *  ,  LEARNING  BY  DOING 


letter  given  below  is  so  complete  in  its  inter- 
pretations of  school  and  village  conditions  that  it 
Another  requires  no  comment.  The  writer 

reminiscence  of   it  had   charge   of  a   country 

school  before  entering  a  normal  school,  and  after 
graduation,  he  taught  for  a  year  in  a  small  town; 
then  he  became  principal  of  his  home  school  —  the 
one  with  which  his  letter  deals  concerning  a  time 
when  he  was  a  pupil  in  it.  Here  he  remained  three 
years.  Finally,  after  graduating  from  college  he 
taught  for  several  years  in  one  of  the  high  schools 
of  a  large  city,  resigning  a  short  time  ago  to  take 
charge  of  the  sales  department  of  a  large  manufac- 
turing business.  This  brief  biographical  sketch  is 
given  to  show  that  he  has  had  the  experiences 
needed  to  give  worth  to  his  interpretations  and 
opinions. 

"Childhood  is  more  monotonous  than  adults  are 
inclined  to  think  because  boys  are  usually  "doing 
something/  but  the  things  which  they  do  are  done 
in  an  attempt  to  escape  from  monotony.  The  prin- 
cipal of  the  school  which  I  attended  was  wise 
enough  to  see  the  necessity  of  giving  us  boys  some- 
thing to  do  to  satisfy  our  demand  for  excitement 
and  adventure.  He  put  up  a  long  ladder  in  the 
school  yard,  copied,  of  course,  from  a  gymnasium. 
On  another  part  of  the  ground,  hanging  from  a 
tree,  was  a  rope  on  which  we  practised  climbing, 
hand  over  hand.  We  had  wrestling  matches,  foot 
races  and,  of  course,  a  baseball  team. 


THE  REVOLT  FROM  MONOTONY     ij 

"One  winter  a  young  woman  came  as  assistant 
in  the  high  school.  She  was  different  from  the  type 
of  teacher  we  were  used  to,  since,  as  we  soon 
learned,  it  had  been  her  custom  to  take  walking 
trips  during  the  summer  vacations.  We  boys  were, 
naturally,  pretty  skeptical  about  a  woman  doing 
much  walking  and  one  day  several  of  us  joked  her 
about  it  in  the  presence  of  the  principal.  He  imme- 
diately proposed  that  as  many  of  the  boys  and  girls 
as  desired  should  challenge  her  to  walk  to  some  lum- 
ber camps,  ten  or  fifteen  miles  distant,  on  the  fol- 
lowing Saturday.  He  quietly  told  us  to  have  my 
horse  and  cutter  ready,  with  one  of  the  smaller 
boys  to  drive  it,  so  that  if  necessary  we  could  give 
the  teacher  a  ride.  This  pleased  us  so  much  and 
made  us  so  excited  that  we  hardly  slept  until  Satur- 
day came.  We  started  out  early  in  the  morning 
through  the  snow,  and  the  teacher  made  good, 
walking  the  entire  distance.  Some  of  us  boys  would 
have  been  glad  to  get  into  the  cutter  had  it  not  been 
for  our  pride,  and  I  think  that  the  principal  him- 
self would  not  have  objected  to  a  ride.  It  is  need- 
less to  say  that  the  teacher  had  us  on  her  side  from 
that  time.  The  question  of  discipline  never  arose 
while  this  principal  was  connected  with  the  school. 
There  was  no  need  for  discipline.  We  did  not 
know  what  it  meant.  The  school  simply  went  on 
with  no  trouble  and  we  all  worked.  Few  high-school 
boys  were  seen  loafing  on  the  streets  and  there  was 
no  drinking  or  smoking  among  ua.  The  activities 


14  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

in  which  we  engaged  under  the  leadership  of  this 
principal,  with  the  encouragement  of  parents  who 
understood  what  he  was  doing,  took  up  our  time  so 
completely  that  there  was  little  desire  for  mischief. 
The  principal  suggested  many  sports  in  which  he 
could  not  participate,  but  he  took  part  with  us  in 
enough  of  them  to  show  that  he  meant  what  he 
said.  My  own  experience,  both  as  a  pupil  under 
him  and  later  as  teacher  and  principal,  has  taught 
me  that  this  last  is  very  important.  Talking,  alone, 
does  not  go  very  far.  Boys  soon  get  a  feeling  that 
it  is  done  to  'work'  them.  That  trip  which  the 
principal  took  with  us  to  the  lumber  camps  and  his 
activity  on  the  school  grounds  did  more  to  make 
us  feel  that  he  was  really  one  of  us  and  interested 
in  us  than  any  amount  of  talking  could  possibly 
have  done.  The  town  was  considered  a  hard  one, 
and  plenty  of  toughs  had  been  produced  in  the 
school.  The  principals  preceding  the  one  of  whom 
I  have  been  speaking  were  complete  failures  in  mat- 
ters of  discipline  and  one  or  two  had  been  literally 
thrown  out  of  the  building  by  the  boys." 

The  following  is  from  a  successful  teacher — now 
the  principal  of  a  grammar  school — who,  since  his 
A  different  type  father  taught  before  him, 
of  experience  was  brought  close  to  the  educa- 

tional ideal,  "brought  up  by  hand"  one  might  al- 
most say,  judging  from  the  beatings  he  received. 
For  these  reasons  his  opinion  of  his  school-days, 


THE  REVOLT  FROM  MONOTONY     15 

revised  and  analyzed  in  the  light  of  his  later  experi- 
ences as  a  teacher,  are  particularly  instructive.  The 
contrast,  in  method  and  results,  with  the  boys  and 
principal  of  whom  we  have  just  read,  is  decidedly 
suggestive. 

"Like  most  of  my  schoolmates,  I  was  a  healthy 
vigorous  boy  with  a  persistent  desire  for  activity 
which  was  not  furnished  by  the  school  or  home.  So 
we  drifted  into  all  sorts  of  scrapes.  Many  of  the 
things  we  did  were  all  right,  but  there  was  no  one 
to  encourage  and  guide  us.  On  this  account  even 
the  valuable  activities  became  a  source  of  trouble 
to  our  teachers  and  ourselves.  For  example,  one 
of  our  favorite  midday  games  was  'fox  and  geese/ 
and  as  that,  like  'hare  and  hounds/  took  us  quite 
a  distance  from  the  school  we  were  frequently 
tardy,  and,  boylike,  when  caught  in  something 
wrong  we  'invented'  excuses.  Had  our  teachers 
taken  an  interest  in  our  game  and  sometimes  played 
it  with  us,  I  am  certain  we  would  have  been  saved 
from  most  of  our  tardiness  and  from  all  of  our 
falsehoods.  But  they  condemned  us  and  looked  on 
us  as  bad  to  the  core — at  least  this  was  the  opinion 
which  we  formed — though  we  were  just  normal 
healthy  boys  giving  vent  to  our  youthful  spirits. 

"Another  game,  harmless  when  helped  along  by 
a  little  sympathy  and  guidance,  was  'Indian/  which 
was  played  on  Saturday  afternoons.  We  had  our 
chief  and  we  terrorized,  the  small  boys  of  the  com- 


16  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

munity,  even  taking  them  to  our  den — a  cave  a  mile 
or  more  out  in  the  woods — and  there  making  them 
dance  for  us.  One  little  chap  who  had  'tattled'  on 
us  several  times — and  here  is  shown  another  bad 
method  of  my  school — we  shut  up  in  our  den  for 
the  night.  When  he  did  not  return  to  supper  a 
search  was  instituted  and  he  was  found.  Of  course 
that  put  an  end  to  our  innocent  game  of  'Indian/ 
Our  parents  and  teachers  were  now  more  than  ever 
convinced  that  we  were  'bad/ 

"During  the  time  of  which  I  am  speaking  I  was 
between  twelve  and  fourteen  years  of  age  and  the 
desire  for  activity  was  intense.  Every  pond  for 
miles  around  was  studied  by  us  boys  and  the  par- 
ticular qualities  of  each  investigated,  commented 
upon  and  compared  with  reference  to  their  good 
points,  and  many  were  the  whippings  which  I  re- 
ceived for  my  clandestine  enjoyment  of  them. 

"The  chief  cause  of  our  'adventures'  was  un- 
questionably, as  I  view  it  to-day,  the  failure  of 
those  over  us  to  furnish  an  outlet  for  the  desires 
created  by  the  ponds,  fields  and  woods.  Our  sports 
were  generally  harmless  and  often  educative  in  the 
beginning,  but  they  usually  ended  in  trouble  be- 
cause we  were  compelled  to  engage  in  them  secretly 
on  account  of  the  disapproval  of  parents  and  teach- 


ers.0 


A  teacher  who  grew  up  on  a  farm  writes : 
"On  looking  backward  it  seems  to  me  that  the 


THE  REVOLT  FROM  MONOTONY     17 

greatest  desire  of  my  boyhood  was  for  adventure. 

This  longing,  which  appeared 
The  experience  of  rrf 

a  country-bred        shortly  after  ten  years  of  age, 

was  curbed  only  by  natural  timid- 
ity. Later,  when  one  of  Oliver  Optic's  stories  fell 
into  my  hands,  farm  and  school  life  seemed  more 
and  more  monotonous.  This  spirit  of  discontent 
with  the  slowness  of  life  increased  as  I  grew  older. 

"Since  this  desire  for  something  unusual  to  break 
the  monotony  was  unappreciated  by  those  over  us, 
who,  apparently,  had  forgot  their  own  youth,  I 
and  my  associates  tried  to  find  our  own  ways  of 
relieving  the  depression.  Sometimes  these  acts 
were  harmless  and  at  other  times  almost  criminal, 
but  they  were  always  unguided  and,  in  fact,  con- 
demned. On  one  occasion  we  nearly  burned  a  boy 
at  the  stake  and  probably  would  have  done  so  be- 
fore we  were  aware  of  the  danger  had  not  a  neigh- 
bor come  upon  us  just  as  we  were  applying  the 
match  to  a  pile  of  hay  and  dry  twigs  in  the  midst 
of  which  our  captive  was  tied. 

"Drawn  together  by  the  common  bond  of  loneli- 
ness we  put  into  execution  all  of  our  venturesome 
plans.  The  worst  series  of  acts  was  incited  by  a 
book  of  the  adventures  of  robbers.  We  read  it  to- 
gether and  straightway  resolved  to  become  truly 
great  in  that  line.  That  winter  everything  went 
wrong  at  the  school.  There  were  many  offenses, 
all  directed  against  school  property,  and  finally, 


i8  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

when  the  outhouses  were  burned,  the  school  di- 
rectors were  in  a  frenzy. 

"As  I  look  back  over  it  all,  with  a  wider  knowl- 
edge of  boys  from  my  experience  as  a  teacher,  I  am 
convinced  that  we  could  have  been  controlled  and 
our  farm  and  school  work  could  have.  had  real  inter- 
est had  our  teachers,  appreciating  what  was  going 
on  within  us,  furnished  vigorous,  healthy  outlets 
for  our  boyish  spirits  and  directed  them  by  joining 
in  enough  of  our  sports  to  show  that  they  were 
more  interested  in  us  personally  than  in  school 
studies  and  discipline,  the  importance  of  which  we 
did  not,  and  at  our  age  could  not,  understand." 

But  this  desire  for  adventure  is  not  limited  to 
boys;  the  principals  of  a  girls'  boarding  school  have 

informed  the  writer  tha*  *  is 


The  desire  for  ad- 

venture  among         of   the   things   which   they  must 

keep  in  mind.  Girls,  they  say,  are 
like  boys  in  being  depressed  by  unbroken  routine. 
"Monotony  bores  children  and  a  bored  child  is  not 
efficient."  They  add,  however,  that  although  noth- 
ing sensational  is  required  to  relieve  the  monotony, 
if  they  do  not  relieve  it  something  sensational  is  cer- 
tain to  happen.  An  outing  in  the  woods,  when  the 
weather  permits,  an  occasional  supper  at  a  hotel, 
and  other  equally  simple  devices  meet  the  needs. 
"One  great  value  of  dramatic  performances  in 
school,"  according  to  these  teachers,  "is  the  relief 
of  the  children  from  their  own  stale  and  limited 
habits  of  thought  and  feeling." 


THE  REVOLT  FROM  MONOTONY     19 

As  evidence  that  startling  adventures  are  de- 
manded by  boys  quite  as  little  as  by  girls,  a  high- 
Simple  methods  school  principal  recently  told  the 
of  reformation  writer  that  two  of  his  most  trou- 
blesome boys  were  "reformed"  by  a  very  simple 
method.  One  was  a  good  musician,  and  it  was  sug- 
gested to  him  to  organize  a  mandolin  club  ;  the  other 
was  advised  to  try  for  the  football  team,  which  he 
succeeded  in  making.  Both  were  told  a  little  later 
that  they  must  show  themselves  worthy  of  the  re- 
sponsibility, and  they  did. 

The  superintendent  of  a  hospital  and  training 
school  for  nurses  says  that  this  same  longing  for 

„    ..  f    r     occasional  "adventures"  must  be 

.rurtner  proof  of 

revolt  from  reckoned  with  in  her  apprentices, 

monotony 


those  of  whom  we  have  been  speaking.  Certain 
things  are  overlooked  and  charged  to  the  account 
of  this  desire  to  break  the  dead  level  of  routine.  In 
the  hospital,  however,  the  superintendent  adds,  the 
patients  often  furnish  enough  excitement  to  meet 
the  needs. 

A  woman  who  has  had  a  varied  experience  with 
girls  writes  :  "Among  the  grammar  and  high-school 

girls  whom  I  have  known,  per- 
Connection  be-         i  •  f  ,        , 

tween  monotony       haPs  nme  out  of  ten  hav^  given 

and  popular  unmistakable  evidence  of  a  feel- 

amusements 

ing  of  monotony  m  their  lives, 

and  especially  of  being  bored  by  the  educational 
process."  This  monotony,  in  the  opinion  of  this 


so  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

woman,  furnishes  the  explanation  for  the  popular- 
ity of  moving-picture  shows,  sensational  novels  and, 
among  certain  classes,  the  public  dance-halls.  "All 
of  these  manias  come  directly  or  indirectly  from  the 
instinct  for  action  and  experience.  .  .  .  There  is 
a  time  when  every  girl  longs  for  free,  wild,  daring 
physical  action,  a  time  when  every  girl  wishes  in 
the  bitterness  of  her  soul  that  she  were  a  boy,  but 
not  in  disloyalty  to  her  sex.  Consciously  or  uncon- 
sciously, it  is  her  nature  crying  out  for  freedom 
and  action. 

"The  schools  should  include  activities  demanding 
action,  responsibility  and  originality.  Otherwise  the 
Need  of  real  ac-  ra*e  a^  which  commercialism  is 
tion  in  schools  multiplying  the  passive  sensations 
is,  for  girls  especially,  most  alarming."  The  pro- 
prietors of  five  and  ten  cent  theaters  and  moving- 
picture  shows  have  discovered  that  there  is  a  de- 
mand for  "passive  sensations"  and  for  what  this 
correspondent  calls  "action-by-proxy."  "The  sen- 
sational novel  mania  is  also  at  bottom  a  desire  to 
escape  from  the  sameness  of  environment.  If  girls 
are  denied  opportunity  to  be  themselves  the  actors 
they  are  bound  to  seek  substitutes,  and  the  more 
realistic  these  substitutes  are  the  better  they  fill  the 
vacancy.  It  is  the  law  of  compensation." 

These  are  only  a  few  of  the  many  instances  which 

could  be  given  did  space  permit.     They  are  more 

than  individual  cases,  for  in  one 

fchoof  me&ods;  °f  these  letters  we  have  seen  a 
their  results  school  transformed  by  a  prin- 


THE  REVOLT  FROM  MONOTONY    21 

cipal  who  understood  the  function  of  adven- 
tures in  the  economy  of  children's  growth.  It 
is  no  small  matter  to  take  charge  of  a  school 
in  which  the  large  boys  boast  of  putting  the 
teacher  out-of-doors  and  win  them  to  one's  sup- 
port. Still  more  significant  is  it  when,  in  addition, 
one  reorganizes  the  community,  changes  the 
thoughts  and  feelings  of  the  children  and  trans- 
forms disorder  into  interest  in  study  and  in  the 
school.  This  kind  of  a  school  has  been  placed  by 
the  side  of  another  in  which  the  same  sort  of  "ad- 
ventures" led  to  trouble  because  they  were  done  se- 
cretly to  escape  the  disapproval  of  parents  and 
teachers  who  had  forgot  the  thoughts  and  impulses 
of  their  own  childhood.  In  the  one  school  the  na- 
tive instinct  for  excitement,  for  contest  of  muscle 
and  brain  in  "the  shock  of  arms"  and  in  the  "di- 
plomacy of  life,"  in  short,  for  adventure,  was  util- 
ized for  mental  and  moral  growth ;  and  in  the  other, 
the  same  impulses  were  left  to  function  in  the  old 
anti-social  way,  to  set  up  resistances  to  discipline 
and  study  which  the  teacher  must  overcome  and, 
perhaps  in  the  end,  to  lead  to  the  reform  school  and 
prison.  And  here  let  us  say  in  passing  that  there  is 
no  separate  criminal  class.  As  William  Pinkerton 
has  said,  "Criminals  are  just  like  other  folks."* 
Since  Mr.  Pinkerton  has  spent  more  than  fifty 
years  in  constant  association  with  crime  and  crim- 
inals, he  can  not  be  accused  of  visionary  ideas. 

*  The  Hampton  Magazine,  Vol.  28,  p.  267. 


22  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

Al  Jennings,  the  reformed  leader  of  the  once  fa- 
mous "Jennings  Gang"  of  train  robbers  and  bandits, 
View  of  a  re-  ^as  exPressed  the  same  opinion 

formed  bandit  regarding  criminals  and,  inci- 
dentally, has  shown  the  part  that  love  for  adven- 
ture may  play  in  crime.  "It  is  my  firm  conviction 
now  that  heredity  counts  little  and  environment 
much  in  making  a  criminal.  Before  I  go  on  with 
the  rest  I  had  better  tell  just  how  I  felt  about  my 
old  trade  (of  robbery).  My  bitter  hatred  of  the 
world  had  dwindled  a  little  and  a  love  for  the  ex- 
citement and  adventure  in  the  game  had  grown  up. 
I  liked  the  plotting,  the  taste  of  danger,  the  thrill 
of  escapes.  I  liked  the  half-savage  outdoor  life. 
And  I  wove  imaginations  about  myself,  pictured 
myself  as  a  romantic  figure/'* 

The  most  fertile  environment  for  making  crim- 
inals is  a  town  or  school  where  primitive  instincts 

Necessity  of  con-  are  allowed  to  run  their  course 
trol  of  racial  unguided.  Repression  is  almost 

as  bad  as  allowing  these  instincts 
full  freedom,  for  then  they  are  put  in  opposition  to 
the  work  that  growth  requires,  and  craftiness  is 
developed  to  outwit  those  who  seek  to  still  the  im- 
pulses of  the  race,  so  dominant  in  youth.  Exciting 
adventures,  as  adults  understand  the  word,  are  not 
needed.  Children  are  imaginative  and  they  think 
excitement  into  simple  matters  if  they  but  have  the 
chance  to  exercise  freely  their  native  instinct  to 
*  Saturday  Evening  Post,  Sept.  20,  1913. 


THE  REVOLT  FROM  MONOTONY     23 

execute  their  own  plans  in  competition  with  one 
another. 

Besides  athletics  and  games  of  various  sorts,  cer- 
tain studies  of  the  school  easily  lend  themselves  to 
this    active    treatment.      Geogra- 
Ph7>   nature   study,   zoology  and 


of  natural  sci-  botany  are  instances  in  point. 
ences  *• 

These  subjects  have  been  made 

too  bookish.  Geography  still  consists  largely  in 
locating,  bounding,  describing  and  defining,  always 
from  the  book,  instead  of  using  the  streams  and 
swamps  and  other  outdoor  sources  of  geographical 
knowledge  which  often  lie  at  the  school-yard  gate. 
The  report  of  the  committee  in  charge  of  the 
survey  of  School  District  No.  i,  City  of  Portland 
Memorizing  ver-  (Oregon),  says,  with  reference  to 
sus  thinking  geography  in  the  schools  under 

investigation:  "No  connection  was  made  or  sug- 
gested between  the  book  statements  and  the  pupils' 
own  immediate  observations  of  geographic  phe- 
nomena ;  not  the  slightest  stimulus  was  given  to  ob- 
serve, to  think  about,  and  to  interpret  the  geographic 
phenomena  in  which  Portland  and  vicinity  surpass- 
ingly abound  ;  even  an  exercise  in  'home'  geography 
was  conducted  entirely  from  the  book.  .  .  ."  In 
Vermont  much  the  same  condition  was  noted  by 
the  investigators  for  the  Carnegie  Foundation: 
"History  and  geography  are  not  made  to  appeal 
to  the  children  by  connecting  these  subjects  with 
their  experiences.  The  lessons  that  were  observed 


*4  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

in  these  subjects  were  confined  largely  to  a  repeti- 
tion of  the  contents  of  some  text-book,  and  there 
was  seldom  any  effort  to  relate  the  statements  of 
the  book  with  what  the  child  might  be  expected 
to  know  about  his  own  environment."  Unfortu- 
nately, this  method  is  too  common.  The  most 
recent  of  the  many  instances  of  which  the  writer 
has  learned  was  reported  to  him  as  this  book  was 
going  through  the  press.  The  sister  of  a  boy  in 
the  fifth  grade  of  a  Missouri  school  was  helping 
him  in  geography.  The  child  defined  erosion  cor- 
rectly. Since  there  were  excellent  examples  visible 
from  the  house,  as  it  was  raining  hard,  his  sister 
asked  him  to  point  out  an  illustration.  The  boy 
looked  blankly  through  the  window  for  a  few  min- 
utes and  then  said,  "I  can't  do  that,  but  I  can  tell 
you  of  one  in  Colorado." 

For  zoology  and  kindred  subjects  nature  has  been 
catalogued  and  dried,  and  the  schoolmaster  vainly 
strives  to  squeeze  some  interest  from  the  desic- 
cated remains,  though  Huxley,  long  ago,  showed 
how  green  scum  from  the  nearest  gutter,  a  handful 
of  weeds  from  a  pond,  a  frog  and  a  pigeon,  instead 
of  books,  may  be  made  the  final  authority.  Mean- 
while, also,  the  birds  that  have  not  yet  reached  the 
museum  stage  of  ghostly  unreality  are  calling  the 
children  to  their  woodland  homes  to  study  their 
lives  and  habits.  It  can  not  be  said  that  material 
is  lacking  for  this  out-of-door  work  since,  in  ad- 
dition to  the  animals  themselves,  state  agricultural 


THE  REVOLT  FROM  MONOTONY    25 

stations  and  several  bureaus  in  Washington  are 
ready  to  supply  a  wealth  of  interesting  information 
about  the  habits  of  the  denizens  of  the  woods. 

Out-of-door  work  in  nature's  laboratory  would 
give  the  children  live  problems  for  solution  instead 
How  to  prevent  of  dead  ones.  The  pupils  would 
imitative  thinking  learn  to  investigate — to  put  ques- 
tions to  themselves  and  to  find  the  answers.  Readi- 
ness to  see  problems  in  what  confronts  one,  to 
state  conditions  clearly,  with  emphasis  on  the  es- 
sentials, to  see  the  questions  involved  in  these  con- 
ditions,  underlie  thinking;  and  this  power  is  not 
gained  by  sitting  in  one's  seat  and  reading  what 
others  have  said  about  these  things.  Books  in  the 
schoolroom  should  be  used  to  verify  answers  which 
have  been  obtained  by  observation  and  investigation, 
and  if  differences  of  opinion  among  authorities  are 
found  the  enthusiasm  of  the  children  for  personal 
investigation  is  greatly  enhanced.  Studying  what 
writers  say,  with  laboratory  work  to  establish  its 
correctness,  is  the  imitative  method.  It  does  not 
train  in  thinking;  and  failure  to  learn  to  think  ii 
failure  in  education.  An  illustration  of  the  disas- 
trous effect  of  imitation  through  slavishness  to 
books  has  just  been  reported  to  the  writer  by  a  high- 
school  teacher.  The  children  in  his  first  year  Ger- 
man class  can  accurately  define  each  tense,  but  they 
can  neither  give  examples  nor  recognize  any  tense 
beyond  the  present. 

In  what  does  thinking  consist  ?    Without  attempt- 


2(5  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

ing  to  answer  this  fully  at  the  present  time,  because 
Prerequisites  to  ft  will  be  discussed  later,  the  pre- 
thinking  requisite  of  thinking  is  ability  to 

see  a  problem — to  state  it  clearly.  With  this,  of 
course,  if  results  are  to  be  obtained,  there  must  be 
a  continuously  aggressive  desire  to  grapple  with  the 
solution  of  such  problems  as  arise  in  the  course  of 
one's  work.  Both  of  these  mental  characteristics 
are  largely  matters  of  habit.  Every  one  is  capable 
of  much  clearer  thinking  than  he  actually  does. 
Therefore,  to  the  extent  to  which  the  brain  of  indi- 
vidual children  permits  progress,  the  teacher's  prob- 
lem is  to  train  them  in  habits  of  thought,  and  in 
doing  this,  as  in  the  case  of  all  habits  that  are  in 
opposition  to  racial  indolence,  the  emotional  atti- 
tude of  the  pupils  is  of  incalculable  importance.  For 
this  reason  desirable  habits  should  grow  out  of  those 
instincts  which  clamor  for  action,  since  they  have 
the  firmest  hold  on  youth. 

A  good  deal  has  been  written  about  awakening 
the  interest  of  pupils,  but  the  method  is  usually 
The  source  of  so  transparent  that  the  children 
interest  are  disillusioned  by  seeing  the 

wheels  go  around.  That  which  is  to  be  taught  is 
considered  as  something  apart  from  the  pupils,  for 
which  their  interest  must  be  aroused  by  entertain- 
ing devices  of  various  kinds.  Interest,  however,  is 
in  the  children  and  can  only  be  awakened  by  making 
their  instincts  the  starting-point.  The  facts  to  be 
learned  and  the  problems  to  be  solved  are  then 


THE  REVOLT  FROM  MONOTONY     27 

reached  in  the  natural  course  of  their  efforts  to  ac- 
complish what  they  have  set  before  themselves  and 
which  they  have  undertaken  because  it  appealed  to 
their  instinct  of  mental  or  manual  workmanship. 
Interest  is  the  emotional  condition  that  arises  in  an 
individual  through  gratification  of  nascent  tenden- 
cies. In  adults  these  tendencies  may  be  of  the  de- 
rived sort — the  outgrowth  of  reading  or  of  business 
or  professional  needs — but  in  children  they  are  of 
racial  origin. 

Life  is  always  accompanied  by  activity  and  it  is 
for  the  teacher  to  discover  the  object  or  purpose  of 

A  .  .  this  activity  in  his  pupils  so  that 
Activity  a  con-  *  f  , 

stant  factor  in  the  ways  and  means  of  the  school 

mental  growth  may  not  do  it  violence.     Children 

are  never  inert,  physically  or  mentally.  They  are 
in  a  constant  state  of  suppressed  or  expressed  action, 
and  when  these  spontaneous  impulses  are  repressed 
explosions  are  imminent.  No  absolute  value  can  be 
ascribed  to  method  and  means  of  education.  Their 
worth  is  relative  to  the  thoughts  and  feelings  of  the 
pupils.  Interest  is  exasperatingly  fastidious;  it  se- 
lects that  which  makes  an  appeal  to  the  thoughts 
and  feeling  from  which  it  springs.  The  hopeful 
thing  about  children  is  that  they  always  want  to  do 
something,  and  the  successful  teacher  ascertains 
what  they  want  and  helps  them  to  do  it  in  an  educa- 
tive way.  This  is  not  yielding  to  their  whims.  It 
is  building  on  the  content  of  their  minds,  a  method 
long  accepted,  theoretically,  as  good  pedagogical 


flS  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

doctrine.  The  teacher's  skill,  then,  reveals  itself, 
among  other  ways,  in  discovering  the  thoughts  and 
feelings  of  his  pupils  and  in  satisfying  them  with- 
out sacrificing  the  purpose  of  education. 

When  children  are  inactive  they  are  in  a  con- 
dition of  unstable  equilibrium,  ready  to  fall  into 
Inactivity  a  state  the  first  constructive  or  destruc- 
of  instability  tive  adventure  that  is  suggested. 

"Let's  play,"  cried  one  of  the  youngsters  in  a 
group  observed  by  the  investigators  of  the  Kansas 
City  recreation  survey.  "Well,  what  shall  we  play?" 
was  the  reply  of  the  others,  and  the  injury  to  prop- 
erty in  town  and  village,  and  the  police  and  juvenile 
court  records  of  cities  give  the  answer  to  this  ques- 
tion. 

Now  the  one  impressive,  overwhelming  fact  men- 
tioned by  all  of  the  recent  recreation  surveys  is  the 
Reports  of  recrea-  Iarge  number  of  children  who 
tion  surveys  were  doing  nothing  at  the  time 

when  the  "flash-light"  observation  was  taken.  They 
were  like  a  crowd  awaiting  the  call  to  deeds  of 
heroism  or  destruction.  In  Milwaukee  the  num- 
ber of  idlers  was  one  and  one-half  times  those 
playing ;  in  Detroit,  Cleveland,  Providence  and  Kan- 
sas City  upward  of  fifty  per  cent,  or  more.  In 
all  of  the  cities  surveyed  a  large  proportion  of 
those  reported  as  playing  were  engaged  in  fighting, 
teasing,  shooting  craps,  pitching  pennies,  or  in  some 
other  more  or  less  demoralizing  sport.  "The  need 
is  outlet — outlet  for  individual  energy  and  for  group 


THE  REVOLT  FROM  MONOTONY     39 

activity,"  is  the  way  in  which  the  report  of  the 
New  York  People's  Institute  diagnoses  the  condi- 
tion; "outlet  for  the  adventurous  interests  of  boys 
• — other  than  a  destructive  outlet/'  "Mischief/1 
says  the  Milwaukee  report,  "which  is  technically 
called  in  the  courts  'juvenile  delinquency/  and  lack 
of  initiative,  which  is  called  in  the  schools  'dull 
stupidity/  are  the  sure  results  of  doing  nothing." 
And,  again,  according  to  the  Providence  report, 
"Doing  nothing  almost  inevitably  leads  to  the  wrong 
kind  of  outlet  for  the  spirit  of  youth."  In  speak- 
ing of  crimes  incidental  to  the  games  of  the 
New  York  City  children,  the  report  of  the  People's 
Institute  says :  "The  elements  the  boys  are  striving 
for  are  the  dramatic  adventures  in  obtaining  stolen 
goods,  the  excitement  of  gambling,  which  to  them 
is  no  crime,  and  the  physical  joys  of  soda-water, 
cigarettes,  moving-picture  shows,  etc.,  which  follow 
the  game.  These  boys  start  out  to  seek  adventure, 
excitement  and  a  'treat/  " 

When  we  ask  how  instincts  may  be  utilized  for 
education  the  method  is  plainly  indicated  by  their 
A  guide  to  utiliz-  ceaseless  employment  in  manip- 
ing  instincts  ulating  the  little  world  in  which 

the  children  live.  Knowledge  of  instinctive  tenden- 
cies will  enable  a  teacher  to  suggest  situations  of 
action  in  the  course  of  which  educative  problems 
arise.  After  all,  what  is  desired  in  teaching  is  that 
the  pupils  study  and  think  and  acquire  habits  of 
industry.  The  method  that  best  accomplishes  this 


30  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

is  the  one  to  follow.  If  children  work  vigorously 
when  organized  to  carry  out  plans  that  appeal  to 
their  native  instincts  the  result  in  acquisition  of 
knowledge  and  in  training  is  not  less  valuable  be- 
cause the  children  study  willingly  and  find  pleasure 
in  what  they  are  doing.  It  is  obvious  that  adven- 
tures in  the  real  sense  of  the  word  may  sometimes 
be  freighted  with  educational  problems,  but  all  ac- 
tivities which  the  pupils  manage,  share  in  the  spirit 
of  adventure  and  to  that  extent  break  the  monotony 
of  routine  work  and  satisfy  their  need  for  action. 

In  an  investigation  of  the  truant  schools  of  Bos- 
ton the  writer  found  boys  who  had  run  away  from 

_  other  schools  waiting  at  the  door 

Reasons  for  sue-  .  ,        ..,  * 

cessful  truant          a  full  half-hour  before  the  teacher 

came.  When  asked  the  reason, 
the  teacher  smiled  and  said  she  thought  it  was  be- 
cause they  were  allowed  to  think  and  act  instead 
of  imitating  the  thoughts  and  actions  of  those  who 
believed  they  knew  a  better  way.  The  same  ques- 
tion has  recently  been  put  by  Philip  Davis,  director 
of  the  Boston  Civic  Service  House,  and  he  finds 
the  answer  to  be  that  the  ideal  truant  school  "pays 
closer  attention  to  the  interests,  activities,  feelings 
and  emotions  of  the  child — because,  in  short,  it  has 
organized  a  school-life,  the  keynote  of  which  is  ac- 
tion rather  than  studies."*  This  does  not  mean 
that  studies  are  to  be  neglected.  They  are  not  neg- 
lected in  the  Boston  Truant  Schools.  The  differ- 
*  Boston  Transcript,  Aug.  16,  1913. 


THE  REVOLT  FROM  MONOTONY     31 

ence  lies  in  the  way  in  which  they  are  studied, 
whether  in  a  manner  that  gives  the  children  free- 
dom to  think,  originate,  investigate  and  act,  or  in 
the  imitative  way  of  "learning  lessons." 

We  have  found  that  this  same  spontaneity  on  the 
part  of  children  is  aroused  by  heeding  racial  calls 
Transference  of  °f  various  sorts.  At  bottom, 
enthusiasm  though,  these  instincts  are  the 

same — the  tendency  to  contrive  with  mind  or  hand 
and  then  to  do  what  one  has  thought.  If  it  is  the 
instincts  usually  associated  with  primitive  man  that 
receive  attention,  as  in  sports  and  handicrafts,  the 
enthusiasm  awakened  may  be  transferred  to  other 
work,  to  the  studies  of  the  school,  because  the  chil- 
dren then  have  fellowship  with  the  teacher.  He  has 
met  their  needs  and  they  respond. 

It  is  not  in  quantity  of  knowledge  that  children 
chiefly  differ  from  adults.  The  stuff  from  which  their 

,  thoughts  and  feelings  are  made  is 
Difference  in  mind    ,.„. 

content  of  chil-  different  Widely  varying  expe- 
dren  and  adults  rjence  cuts  away  tfae  common 

ground  of  understanding.  Men  of  different  nation- 
alities can  not  get  one  another's  points  of  view.  It 
is  no  wonder,  then,  that  children,  having  had  none 
of  the  experiences  of  adults,  regard  them  as  a  pe- 
culiar people  with  strange  ideas  who  are  always 
urging  conduct  and  habits  and  studies  in  which  the 
youngsters  see  no  value.  "To  them  (the  children) 
the  inhabited  world  is  composed  of  the  two  main 
divisions:  children  and  upgrown  people;  the  latter 


32  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

in  no  way  superior  to  the  former — only  hopelessly 
different"* 

Why  should  children  be  expected  to  understand 
the  importance  of  knowledge  when  the  need  for  it 
has  not  yet  arisen?  One  of  the  problems  of  the 
teacher  is  to  produce  situations  in  which  this  need 
will  be  a  recurring  factor,  and  the  conditions  that 
meet  this  educational  requirement  are  those  in  which 
the  children  are  the  planners  and  the  workers.  In 
short,  they  are  situations  of  action. 

Before  this  cooperative  planning  can  be  effective, 
however,  it  is  necessary  to  bridge  the  chasm  that 

separates  the  thoughts  and  feel- 
Instmcts  as  start-    .  J 

ing-point  for  mgs  of  children  from  those  of 

interest  ^  teachen  When  one  looks  over 

the  field  for  teachers  in  schools  and  social  organiza- 
tions who  have  won  the  interest  of  their  children, 
one  invariably  finds  that  the  method  used  took  ac- 
count of  racial  instincts.  The  "adventures/'  as  we 
have  called  these  activities  for  want  of  a  better 
name,  have  supplied  a  motive  for  situations  out  of 
which  a  consciously  felt  need  for  knowledge  grew. 
The  children  took  an  interest  in  the  problems  be- 
cause they  arose  in  the  progress  of  what  they  were 
trying  to  do;  and  they  wanted  to  do  the  things  be- 
cause they  gave  opportunity  for  action,  for  plan- 
ning and  for  managing.  There  is  no  artifice  about 
this.  It  is  simply  starting  from  the  racial  heritage 
which  children  have  in  common. 
*  Kenneth  Grahame's  Golden  Age. 


THE  REVOLT  FROM  MONOTONY     33 

This  open  relationship  between  teacher  and  pupil, 
besides  connecting  with  the  studies  of  the  school, 

prevents  the  feelings  and  emo- 
Importance  of  ac-  .  ...  . 

tion  for  healthy  tions  from  striking  in  and  mak- 
cmotions  ;ng  the  children  withdraw  within 

themselves.  Emotions  to  be  healthy  must  be  ex- 
pressed in  action.  They  are  certain  to  find  some 
exit,  and  when  free  action  is  suppressed  they  are 
likely  to  find  their  satisfaction  in  secret  ways  that 
develop  unhealthy  motives  for  thought  and  will. 

When  once  this  frank  agreement  on  mutual  inter- 
ests has  been  reached,  the  skilful  teacher  may  lead 
Unlimited  oppor-  his  pupils  where  he  wishes.  The 
tunity  for  teachers  guif  between  mature  and  imma- 
ture thoughts  and  feelings  has  been  spanned,  and 
now  the  interests  of  the  pupils  can  be  broadened. 
Perhaps  it  was  knowledge  of  this  fact  that  led  Pad- 
dy Byrne  to  regale  Oliver  Goldsmith  with  stories 
of  adventures,  smugglers,  robbers  and  pirates  as  a 
preliminary  to  something  else.  At  any  rate  he  suc- 
ceeded after  Dame  Delap  had  called  Oliver  the  dull- 
est boy  she  had  ever  tried  to  teach. 

"Adventures,"  however,  have  a  value  beyond 
their  service  in  arousing  enthusiasm  for  the  studies 

_,  of  the  school.     They  afford  an 

Experience  in  J 

terms  of  ad-  understanding  of  human  actions 

which  can  not  be  learned  in  books, 
and  those  who  have  not  had  them  in  their  boyhood 
are  later  at  a  disadvantage  in  dealing  with  men.  "I 
had  a  boy's  love  for  adventure/'  writes  a  young  busi- 


34  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

ness  man,  "but  the  spirit  to  do  things  was  so  sup- 
pressed that  it  had  to  satisfy  itself  with  visionary 
dreams  rather  than  in  those  natural  activities  to 
which  it  should  have  been  directed.  My  parents 
fitted  up  a  fine  workshop,  which  I  never  used  ex- 
cept under  protest,  and  bought  squirrels,  dogs  and, 
finally,  a  saddle  pony.  These  gave  me  pleasure,  but 
they  did  not  make  up  for  the  experiences  which 
every  boy  craves  and  should  have.  My  teachers 
were  entirely  unconscious  of  my  boyish  thoughts 
and  enthusiasm.  They  gave  me  no  encouragement 
to  engage  in  even  school  athletics.  Any  summary 
of  my  boyhood  experiences  can  only  be  a  confes- 
sion of  a  life  of  continued  monotony,  and  I  believe 
that  in  consequence  of  this  lack  of  adventures  my 
initiative,  resourcefulness,  self-reliance  and  the  abil- 
ity to  be  a  good  'mixer'  and  judge  of  men  have  been 
permanently  impaired."  Compare  this  last  state- 
ment with  that  of  another  business  man  who  writes : 
"Some  of  the  things  which  I  did  in  the  spirit  of 
adventure  are  of  more  advantage  to  me  to-day  in 
business  than  anything  I  learned  in  school." 

Education  is  more  than  schooling.  It  calls  for 
the  development  of  all  the  latent  powers  of  child- 
c  .  .  hood,  and  the  primitive  instincts 

are  among  the  resources  at  the 
disposal  of  the  teacher.  By  utilizing  them  they  be- 
come allies  for  promoting  growth,  instead  of  ob- 
stacles to  be  overcome,  and  the  enthusiasm  created 
by  their  recognition  as  springs  of  action  in  the  young 


THE  REVOLT  FROM  MONOTONY     35 

f 

gives  a  zest  to  work  that  makes  it  pleasant,  though 
not  easy.  We  shall  endeavor  to  indicate  some  of 
the  ways  in  which  teachers  have  combined  the  spirit 
of  adventure  with  the  work  of  the  school,  but  first 
it  is  important  to  consider  certain  characteristics  of 
efficient  teaching. 


CHAPTER  II 

EFFICIENT   TEACHING 

WE  have  been  told  that  the  education  of  a 
child  should  begin   with  his  grandparents. 
Yes,  that  is  true,  only  it  is  with  the  grandparents  of 

the  future  children  that  we  must 
Difficulty  of  de- 

fining human  start  —  with  the  children  who  are 

efficiency  jn  schooj  now>     The  difficulty  in 

falling  back  on  heredity  is  not  our  ignorance  of  its 
laws.  Investigations  are  daily  making  those  clearer. 
The  trouble  is  in  deciding  what  makes  an  efficient 
man  or  woman.  Of  course  certain  things  are  clear 
enough.  We  know,  for  example,  that  honesty,  in- 
dustry and  perseverance  are  essential,  but  many 
men  possess  all  these  and  yet  lack  efficiency.  Hu- 
man efficiency  is  too  complex  to  be  defined  in  such 
limited  terms. 

Educating  men  is  an  altogether  different  propo- 
sition from  training  animals.    In  the  case  of  dogs, 

for    instance,    we    know    exactly 
Difference  be-  .    . 

tween  human  and    what  we  want.     If  it  IS  a  certain 


animal  educability  kind  of  hunting  dog  which  we  are 
after,  we  obtain  an  animal  whose  ancestors  through 
many  generations  have  been  accustomed  to  do  what 

36 


EFFICIENT  TEACHING  37 

we  want  done  and  train  him  vigorously  in  the  acts 
required  for  success.  Police  dogs  are  another  illus- 
tration. Their  new  work  differs  only  moderately 
from  the  things  in  which  their  ancestors  were  pro- 
ficient. But  if  this  principle  had  been  followed 
would  Robert  Browning  have  been  selected  in  ad- 
vance for  the  work  in  which  he  so  splendidly  ex- 
celled? Browning  is  not  an  isolated  case.  Read 
the  lives  of  the  ancestors  of  men  and  women  who 
have  achieved  fame,  and  see  how  many  of  these 
eminent  persons  you  would  have  selected  in  their 
childhood  for  success  in  their  later  work.  Some  of 
these  ancestors  will  not  stand  investigation.  Then, 
too,  the  children  of  eminent  men  and  women  are 
often  disappointingly  inefficient. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  chapter  to  oppose  the 
principle  of  eugenics.  Mutations,  however,  are 
First  essential  of  probably  no  less  common  in  hu- 
efficient  teaching  man  beings  than  among  the  lower 
animals,  and  "sports,"  which  are  only  isolated  cases 
of  mutations,  are  sufficiently  numerous  among  geni- 
uses to  attract  attention.  Perhaps  the  frequency  of 
sports  is  the  cause  of  much  which  has  been  writ- 
ten about  genius  and  insanity.  We  know  now,  as 
the  result  of  Burbank's  work,  that  the  first  condi- 
tion of  variability  is  the  breaking  up  of  specific  hab- 
its. When  this  state  of  instability  has  been  attained 
new  variations  may  be  expected  and  then  if  condi- 
tions are  favorable  for  a  definite  kind  of  variation 
that  particular  change  is  likely  to  occur.  Encourag- 


38  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

ing  variations  and  recognizing  them  when  they  occur 
is,  in  the  opinion  of  the  writer,  the  first  essential  of 
efficient  teaching.  Let  us  inquire  a  little  more  def- 
initely into  the  meaning  of  this. 

It  is,  of  course,  admitted  that  we  must  take  chil- 
dren as  they  are.  Complaint  that  they  were  not 
Two  methods  of  born  right  avails  nothing.  They 
approach  to  task  are  the  raw  material  which  must 
be  worked  up  by  the  schools.  Now  there  are  at 
least  two  widely  different  ways  of  approaching  our 
task.  We  may  decide  just  what  sort  of  men  and 
women  we  would  like  to  make  out  of  them  and  then 
regulate  their  "going  and  coming"  by  assignments 
of  work,  by  rules  and  prohibitions  with  a  view  to 
developing  our  ideal  type  of  adults.  Or,  again,  in- 
stead of  settling  at  the  start  the  kind  of  men  and 
women  we  will  make  our  pupils  into,  we  may  sup- 
ply incentives  for  the  development  of  various  sorts 
of  ability.  To  illustrate  our  point  somewhat  rough- 
ly, if  we  were  to  rear  a  strange  animal  with  whose 
habits  of  eating  we  were  unacquainted,  we  should 
scatter  various  kinds  of  food  before  it  to  learn 
which  it  would  select.  This,  indeed,  is  exactly  our 
method  when  we  read  aloud  to  children  from  differ- 
ent books,  taking  care  to  stop  each  time  at  some 
interesting  place  to  see  which  book  is  sufficiently 
absorbing  for  them  to  wish  to  continue  it  by  them- 
selves. 

I  am  aware  that  one  rarely  adopts  the  first  meth* 


EFFICIENT  TEACHING  39 

od  as  consciously  as  'did  Austin  Feverel  for  his  son 
Faults  of  first  Richard.  Our  ideals  are  usually 
method  acquired  unconsciously  and  our 

actions  are  made  to  fit  them  with  quite  as  little  de- 
liberate intention.  The  instruction  which  we  have 
received  in  preparation  for  our  work,  the  ideas  of 
discipline  acquired,  the  pressure  of  the  community, 
or,  still  more  often,  perhaps,  the  line  of  least  resist- 
ance, draw  us  unconsciously  to  the  adoption  of  the 
first  method  as  a  plan  of  action.  But,  besides  the 
fact  that  there  are  many  ways  of  being  efficient,  this 
method  ignores  the  individual  traits  of  children,  and 
it  does  not  draw  out  their  abilities  because  it  makes 
no  appeal  to  their  inherited  and  acquired  character- 
istics. 

Children  must,  of  course,  be  held  to  certain  re- 
quirements. They  should  be  punctual,  studious  and 
A  paradox  and  orderly.  There  are,  however, 
an  explanation  many  ways  in  which  these  quali- 
ties may  be  taught.  To  command  that  they  be  ob- 
served, with  punishment  for  failure,  is  the  sim- 
plest— and  the  most  primitive — plan  of  action. 
Whether  its  results  be  good  or  bad  depends  upon 
the  natures  of  the  children  to  whom  it  is  applied. 
The  best  that  can  be  said  for  this  method  is  that  it 
is  successful  for  those  who  are  suited  to  it.  As  far 
as  this  statement  has  any  meaning  at  all,  it  repeats 
what  has  already  been  said:  i.  e.,  that  the  efficient 
method  is  the  one  adapted  to  the  individual  traits 


40  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

of  children.  I  admit  that  this  view  throws  aside 
all  rules  of  action  in  the  schoolroom,  and  leaves  the 
solution  of  the  problem  to  the  teacher's  interpreta- 
tion of  the  individual  peculiarities  of  his  different 
pupils.  But  this  is  as  it  should  be.  The  only  rule 
that  can  be  given  is  to  follow  no  rule.  To  be  even 
more  paradoxical,  probably  the  safest  way  to  attain 
this  state  of  freedom  is  through  rules.  This  is  true 
at  least  for  those  who  are  versatile  enough  to  pre- 
vent a  method  from  becoming  habitual,  for  it  is  a 
great  advantage  to  have  experienced  the  failure  of 
the  rule-of-thumb  plan  of  "teaching  school."  One 
is  then  prepared  to  appreciate  the  difference  be- 
tween the  output  of  mechanically  directed  study  and 
spontaneous  diligence.  It  is  the  same  with  the 
method  of  the  recitation.  The  first  thing  to  do  is 
to  get  a  method  and  the  second  is  to  discard  it.  A 
teacher,  for  example,  is  unfortunate  not  to  have 
been  caught  by  some  of  the  many  systems  of  teach- 
ing arithmetic,  but  it  would  be  fatal  to  his  own 
progress  and  that  of  his  pupils  to  be  held  by  them. 

Rules  are  intended  for  the  preliminary  stage 
when  one  is  learning  to  judge  situations.  As  a 
An  illustration  of  matter  of  fact,  no  two  situations 
good  judgment  are  exactly  alike  and  intelligence 
is  displayed  in  distinguishing  essential  differences 
from  the  non-essential  and  in  modifying  one's  acts 
accordingly.  An  illustration  from  an  actual  school 
occurrence  will  make  this  clear.  A  teacher  in  a 


EFFICIENT  TEACHING  41 

country  school  was  accustomed  to  keep  her  red 
sweater  in  the  cloak-room  of  the  building  for  use 
on  cold  days.  One  morning  on  arriving  at  the 
building  she  found  that  it  had  been  hung  from  the 
middle  of  the  ceiling  of  the  schoolroom.  In  addi- 
tion to  this  ornamentation  the  top  of  the  clock  was 
decorated  with  a  pair  of  shoes  kept  at  the  school 
by  one  of  the  girls  who  was  obliged  to  travel  a 
wet,  muddy  road.  The  teacher  paid  no  attention 
to  either  and  everything  went  on  as  usual.  At 
recess  the  janitor  asked  her  in  the  presence  of  sev- 
eral boys  if  he  should  take  them  down.  "Oh,  no," 
was  the  reply,  "the  children  like  to  have  them  there 
and  they  do  no  harm." 

A  classical  example  of  this  same  adaptation  to 
the  situation  is  found  in  an  anecdote  of  Frederick 
An  example  of  the  Great.  After  his  exhaustive 
wise  adaptability  wars  he  felt  obliged  to  introduce 
a  severe  and  unpopular  system  of  collecting  taxes. 
His  tax-gatherers  searched  private  houses  so  dili- 
gently that  the  people  called  them  cellar-rats.  One 
day,  while  riding  through  Berlin,  Frederick  came 
upon  a  crowd  of  people  looking  at  a  picture  high 
up  on  a  wall.  As  he  came  near,  he  saw  that  it 
was  a  caricature  of  himself,  as  a  miser,  grinding 
coffee.  "Hang  it  lower,"  he  cried  to  his  groom,  "so 
that  the  people  need  not  break  their  necks  looking 
at  it."  Immediately  a  cheer  burst  from  the  crowd 
and  the  picture  was  torn  into  a  thousand  pieces. 


42  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

The  illustrations  which  we  have  given  show 
the  response  may  be  made  to  fit  a  situation  and 

the  desired  result  be  thereby  at- 
priSe°to  °£  tained-  The  Principle,  however, 
teacher  adapta-  applies  also  to  the  varying  ways 

in  which  different  pupils  should 
be  dealt  with  to  obtain  the  best  of  which  they  are 
capable.  This  may  be  shown  by  an  instance  re- 
ported to  the  writer — the  not  infrequent  case  of  a 
solitary  boy  in  the  senior  class  of  a  high  school. 
He  became  discouraged  because  the  girls  made  bet- 
ter grades  than  he.  By  observing  him,  and  through 
conversation,  his  teacher  found  that  he  had  no  con- 
fidence in  his  ability.  Finally,  he  decided  to  with- 
draw from  school,  and  then  his  teacher,  having  in- 
duced him  to  stay  a  little  longer,  decided  to  try  a  dif- 
ferent method  with  him  from  the  one  she  thought 
advantageous  to  the  other  members  of  the  class.  She 
had  discovered  that  he  was  fond  of  writing  poetry, 
so  she  asked  the  entire  class  to  write  sonnets  for 
the  following  day.  As  she  had  expected,  Frank's 
poem  was  much  better  than  any  of  the  others  and 
he  became  quite  a  hero  in  the  class.  This  increased 
his  self-respect  so  much  that  he  began  to  study  with 
renewed  vigor.  He  had  found  that  he  could  do 
at  least  one  thing  better  than  his  classmates.  In 
a  few  days  the  other  members  of  the  class  returned 
to  the  work  which  seemed  more  profitable  for  them 
and  Frank  became  the  poet.  He  studied  the  various 
kinds  of  verse  and  read  about  authors  until  finally, 


EFFICIENT  TEACHING  43 

as  usually  happens  under  skilful  guidance,  his  in- 
terest spread  to  prose  literature  as  well  and,  as 
his  teacher  puts  it  in  her  letter,  "he  became  a  live 
wire  in  the  literature  class/' 

Another  instance,  illustrating  the  same  principle 
in  a  different  way,  was  shown  in  the  treatment  of 
Another  illustra-  a  b°7  *n  the  first  year  class  of 
tion  from  a  school  a  hjgh  school.  He  saw  "no 

good"  in  any  of  his  studies.  He  was  going  to  be 
a  farmer,  he  said,  and  what  was  the  good  of  all 
"those  things"?  His  teacher  discovered  one  sub- 
ject which  he  did  not  exactly  "hate"  and  that  was 
the  composition  part  of  English  grammar,  and  he 
also  wrote  fairly  well.  So  she  suggested  that  he 
be  appointed  "reporter"  for  the  school.  It  was  his 
duty  to  go  around  to  the  different  rooms  each  week 
and  gather  items  which  he  arranged  and  edited 
for  the  town  paper.  This  constituted  a  part  of 
his  class  work.  He  soon  found  that  a  knowledge 
of  the  technical  parts  of  grammar  was  of  advantage 
in  his  writing  and  so  his  narrow  interest  widened. 
Before  long  he  saw  that  information  about  other 
things  than  grammar  was  needed  for  an  "editor." 
Interesting  experiments  in  the  laboratories,  facts 
about  earlier  investigators  and  their  work,  and 
many  other  bits  of  knowledge  came  to  his  attention 
and  aroused  his  curiosity  beyond  their  use  for  the 
items  in  the  village  paper.  As  a  result  his  interest 
spread  to  all  the  studies  of  the  school,  because,  at 
last,  he  saw  their  use.  To  return,  now,  for  a 


44  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

moment  to  the  paradoxical  statement  above  that  the 
best  rule  for  the  teacher  to  follow  is  to  have  no 
rule,  the  writer  ventures  to  ask  what  rule  could 
have  been  given  for  guidance  in  these  instances 
beyond  saying  that  the  individual  peculiarities  of 
each  child  should  determine  the  plan  to  follow? 
This,  of  course,  makes  every  pupil  a  special  "case" 
requiring  a  different  rule  of  action. 

It  would  be  a  mistake,  however,  to  assume  that 
this  view  reduces  education  to  the  vagaries  of  law- 
Flexibility  of  kss  caprice.  The  practice  of 
method  is  not  medicine  did  not  become  a  science 
until  physicians  saw  that  the  same 
outward  manifestation  might  be  caused  by  widely 
different  organic  or  functional  disorders.  As  long 
as  fever,  for  example,  was  regarded  as  a  specific 
disease  requiring  one  definite  sort  of  treatment,  little 
progress  in  medicine  could  be  made.  To-day,  when 
different  prescriptions  are  given  for  "fever,"  we 
do  not  say  that  the  practice  of  medicine  is  governed 
by  no  law.  The  recognition  of  various  causes  for 
this  symptom  of  internal  disorders  marked  the  be- 
ginning of  law  in  the  treatment  of  diseases;  and 
it  is  the  same  in  education.  If  the  teacher  is  not 
always  treating  a  mind  diseased  he  is,  at  any  rate, 
dealing  with  minds  affected  by  bodily  and  mental 
conditions  which  cause  the  "peculiarities"  that  make 
the  trouble.  Constant  suspicion  of  kindly  acts,  for 
example,  may  be  caused  by  the  treatment  received 


EFFICIENT  TEACHING  45 

at  home  or  by  a  misunderstanding  of  the  teacher's 
motives,  and  persistent  annoyance  by  a  pupil  may 
be  due  to  either  of  these  or  many  other  causes. 
Indolence,  again,  is  often  traced  to  bodily  condi- 
tion, such  as  eye-strain,  but  quite  as  frequently  to 
interests  of  which  the  school  takes  no  account. 
These  are  a  few  of  the  many  examples  which  might 
be  given  to  illustrate  what  is  meant.  It  is  obvious 
that  always  to  apply  the  same  treatment  to  "indo- 
lence" would  be  a  professional  blunder  quite  com- 
parable with  the  "criminal  carelessness"  which 
sometimes  brings  physicians  before  a  court  of  jus- 
tice. 

We  have  been  trying  to  show  the  need  of  dis- 
covering the  causes  of  failure  to  respond  to  oppor- 

_,  tunities  for  learning:  and  for  do- 

Two  guiding  prin- 
ciples in  efficient      ing,  as  well  as  to  urge  the  right 
teaching  of  eyery  child  tQ  haye  hjs  type 

of  mind  considered  in  his  teaching.  It  was  the 
latter  that  prompted  Voltaire  to  exclaim,  with  his 
characteristic  vividness,  "Everybody  must  jump 
after  his  own  fashion."  These  guiding  principles 
— to  find  the  cause  of  failure  and  to  deal  with 
individual  personalities,  instead  of  with  the  abstract 
child — are  the  beginning  of  efficient  teaching.  As 
for  the  rest,  the  method  followed  should  be  directed 
toward  fixing  habits  of  behavior  and  of  clear  think- 
ing; and  here  we  come  upon  a  significant  educa- 
tional fact. 


46  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

Children  are  the  most  adaptive  creatures  in  the 
world.     They  are  more  clever  at  adaptation  than 

any  of  the  lower  animals  because 
Connection  be-          Xl         1  .    ,   t1.  TJ- 

tween  adaptation      the7  have   more   intelligence. 
and  economy  a  teacher  varies  his  requirements 

for  the  same  children  in  different 
classes,  being  lax  in  one  and  adhering  rigorously 
to  his  demands  in  the  other,  the  children  will  adapt 
themselves  quite  contentedly  to  the  contradictory 
situations.  It  is  a  common  experience,  for  example, 
to  have  the  same  pupils  careful  of  their  spelling 
in  papers  for  the  spelling  class  and  neat  as  well 
as  thoughtful  of  the  English  in  their  compositions 
but  careless  of  all  three  in  arithmetic  and  geogra- 
phy. Adaptation  is  fitting  into  requirements,  and 
the  "fitting"  is  usually  done  with  the  most  econom- 
ical expenditure  of  energy.  Economy  of  effort  re- 
quires intelligence  and  that  is  the  reason  why  chil- 
dren are  so  proficient  in  it.  One  of  the  advantages 
that  goes  with  being  man  instead  of  dog  is  ability 
to  economize  effort  ;  and  we  can  not  blame  children 
for  enjoying  one  of  the  prerogatives  of  their  genus. 
Pupils  do  not  usually  make  these  adaptations 
consciously.  It  is  the  line  of  least  resistance  that 

is   followed.     For,   as   Rousseau 


unconsec"ious  long  aS°  remarked,  not  even  chil- 
adaptation  and  dren  wish  to  take  unnecessary 
bad  habits  f  ,  _  ,  .  .  e 

trouble.    On  this  account,  if  more 

effort  is  needed  to  evade  tasks  than  to  do  them 


EFFICIENT  TEACHING  47 

the  worlc  will  be  done.  And  so  penalties  are  im- 
posed in  the  effort  to  increase  the  difficulties  of 
escaping  work.  Unfortunately,  however,  by  the 
time  the  teacher  has  decided  to  inflict  the  penalty 
the  children  have  already  made  their  adaptation 
to  a  lower  degree  of  efficiency.  As  a  result  of  this 
delay  the  situation  is  greatly  complicated.  It  is 
now  not  merely  a  question  of  promoting  adaptation 
but  of  breaking  up  bad  habits  and  forcing  readapta- 
tions  to  a  new  requirement.  And  that  is  much 
harder  to  accomplish. 

The  cause  of  much  of  the  difficulty  in  securing 
good  habits  of  work  in  school  is  that  the  require- 

_  ments  are  irregularly  and  inter- 

Teacher's  respon-  * 

sibility  in  forma-  mittently  enforced.  To-day  they 
are  kindly  but  severely  insisted  on 
and  to-morrow  the  demand  is  relaxed.  So  the  chil- 
dren are  kept  in  uncertainty  about  what  is  ex- 
pected. They  do  not  know  to  what  they  should 
adapt  themselves,  and  desiring,  as  we  have  said, 
to  go  to  no  unnecessary  trouble,  they  do  not  adapt 
themselves  to  any  definite  requirement.  In  other 
words,  they  drift  into  indolence.  The  statement 
that  children  do  not  wish  to  go  to  unnecessary 
trouble  seems  to  imply  deliberate  action.  This  fru- 
gality of  effort,  however,  is  largely  physiological. 
It  is  economy  in  organic  action.  Nature  is  rarely 
extravagant  in  her  expenditure  of  energy. 

Sentimentality,  again,  has  replaced  the  stern  dis- 


48  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

cipline  of  former  days  and  in  the  attempt  to  make 
Danger  from  work  pleasant  it  is  often  made 

sentimentality  too  easy,  though  the  two  terms 

are  by  no  means  synonymous.  Consequently,  the 
children  adapt  themselves  to  a  comfortable,  effort- 
less mode  of  study  which  brings,  at  best,  only  a 
confused  conglomeration  of  facts.  But  suddenly 
the  teacher  awakens  to  the  fact  that  his  pupils  are 
merely  committing  their  lessons  to  memory  and 
doing  even  that  indifferently.  Therefore,  being  a 
conscientious  teacher*,  he  tries  to  enforce  a  little 
real  thinking.  But  now  the  tables  are  turned.  For 
the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  reversing  the  children's 
habits  of  work  are  almost  insurmountable  and,  after 
days  of  fruitless  effort,  the  teacher  yields  to  the 
inevitable  and  adapts  himself  to  their  requirements 
instead  of  making  them  meet  his. 

The  trouble  lies  in  not  starting  right.  Adapta- 
tion is  an  unvarying  law  of  nature.  It  is  certain 
The  importance  to  occur.  The  question  then  is 
of  beginnings  to  what  conditions  shall  the 
adaptation  be  made?  If  teachers  begin  their  year's 
work  with  certain  requirements,  kindly  but  firmly 
enforced,  the  pupils  will  adapt  themselves  to  the 
demands;  but  there  must  be  no  relaxation  in  the 
requirements  until  the  adaptation  becomes  a  habit. 
For  this  reason  it  is  of  the  greatest  importance 
that  the  program  of  action  be  carefully  thought 
out.  Only  requirements  essential  to  success  in  the 
daily  work  should  be  made.  The  children  are  in 


EFFICIENT  TEACHING  49 

school  to  study  and  to  think,  and  certain  conditions 
are  necessary.  Rules  not  vital  to  the  work  in  hand 
are  sometimes  given.  They  were  made  in  a  mo- 
ment of  irritation  at  interruption  and  were  never 
intended  for  serious  enforcement.  An  illustration 
will  make  this  clear.  A  teacher  is  busy  with  a  class 
and  one  of  the  children  at  study  crosses  the  room 
to  get  a  ruler.  The  teacher  is  disturbed  and  says 
at  once  that  no  one  may  leave  his  seat  without  per- 
mission. He  does  not  mean  it,  or  would  not  did 
he  but  think,  for  he  does  not  wish  pupils  to  sit 
idle  for  want  of  a  ruler  or  a  pencil  which  might 
be  obtained  easily  and  quickly,  nor  does  he  desire 
many  requests  for  permission  to  do  what  might 
be  done  with  less  disturbance  by  saying  nothing. 
Therefore  he  does  not  enforce  the  rule. 

The  fewer  rules  laid  down  the  better,  but  those 
which  are  made  should  be  vital  to  the  work  and 
The  importance  no  exception  should  ever  be  per- 
of  few  rules  mitted.  Then  the  children  will 

adapt  themselves  to  the  requirements.  It  is  an  old 
story  that  a  colt  which  has  run  away  once  is  rarely 
altogether  safe.  Adaptation  to  bit  and  rein  has 
been  disturbed  and  an  opposing  habit  started.  And 
so  it  is  with  children,  though  here  resistance  to  the 
adaptation,  when  once  a  break  occurs,  is  even 
greater  because  they  are  more  conscious  of  their 
possibilities. 

All  habits  are  adaptations,  and  the  habit  of  dis- 
criminative thinking  is  no  exception.  Children  will 


50  LEARNING  BY  DOING 


A  test  of  habits  use  rt^1"  knowledge  to  verify  or 
of  thinking  deny  new  statements  if  they  have 

been  trained  to  do  so  from  the  beginning.  Other- 
wise they  will  not,  because  selective  thinking  re- 
quires effort  which  they  will  not  needlessly  expend. 
Accepting  each  statement,  even  those  contradictory 
to  facts  already  learned  or  meaningless,  is  much 
easier.  The  principal  of  a  large  public  school  told 
the  writer  that  he  became  convinced  that  the  chil- 
dren were  not  paying  attention  to  what  the  teacher 
said,  or  taking  interest  enough  in  it  to  understand 
the  instruction.  So  he  planned  a  test,  first  warning 
the  teachers  lest  their  faces  betray  him.  He  went 
into  each  room  of  the  eight  grades,  except  the  first, 
and  gave  a  short  talk  ending  with:  "Now  I  want 
each  one  of  you  to  promise  to  sagitate  your  consti- 
tution every  week." 

As  he  expected,  not  a  hand  was  raised  for  per- 
mission to  ask  a  question,  until  he  reached  the  sev- 
enth grade,  when  one  boy's  hand  flew  up.  The  prin- 
cipal thought  that  he  was  caught  this  time,  but  when 
he  gave  permission  to  speak,  the  boy,  with  the  air 
of  consciousness  that  he  always  did  the  right  thing, 
said:  "I  did  mine  yesterday."  When  the  writer 
repeated  this  to  a  class  of  teachers  riot  long  ago, 
one  of  the  members  doubted  whether  his  pupils 
could  be  deceived  so  easily.  They  were  taught  to 
think,  he  said.  He  consented,  however,  to  make 
the  test,  and  the  following  week  admitted  with  some 
chagrin  that  "it  worked." 


EFFICIENT  TEACHING  '51 

Children  can  be  trained  to  think  provided  the 
conditions  to  which  adaptation  is  enforced  require 
More  about  train-  thinking.  Miss  Earhart*  put  sev- 
ing  m  thinking  eraj  ciasses  under  special  training 
to  test  this  possibility  and  found,  as  a  result  of 
the  experiment,  that  "pupils  in  the  elementary 
schools  in  grades  including  the  fourth,  as  well 
as  higher  classes,  are  able  not  only  to  employ  the 
factors  of  logical  study  but  also  that  By  means  qf 
systematic  effort  they  can  be  made  to  improve  in 
their  employment  of  them/'  These  tests  showed 
quite  conclusively  that  children  can  gather  data 
from  outside  sources  and  use  the  material  intelli- 
gently. They  can  also  "be  trained  to  see  the  impor- 
tant points  in  a  lesson  and  to  group  the  related  ideas 
about  these  centers." 

Miss  Earhart  then  proceeded  to  find  out  whether 
children  are  taught  to  think  in  school.  She  tested 
A  test  which  more  than  a  thousand  pupils  in 

shows  children  are  the  sixth  and  seventh  grades,  and 

not  taught  to  think  ,,  ,.  ,  .  .      ,  ,    -     ,, 

the  questions  which  she  used  dealt 

with  geography.  These  tests  failed  to  "reveal  any 
power  the  children  in  these  classes  may  possess  of 
seeing  discrepancies  between  what  they  read  and 
what  they  know."  They  did  not  show  any  power 
in  the  children  to  doubt  on  the  basis  of  known  facts. 
The  children  were  usually  unable  to  discover  what 
the  lesson  was  about;  but  her  experiment  proved 
that  they  are  capable  of  thinking  and  that  they  will 

*  Teaching  Children  to  Study. 


S*  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

do  so  if  'daily  they  are  held  to  the  requirement. 
"If  enough  pupils  use  the  various  factons  of  proper 
study  to  show  that  it  is  possible  for  children  of  their 
age  to  employ  them,  the  questions  arise,"  continues 
Miss  Earhart,  "why  do  not  more  of  the  pupils  use 
them?  .Why  are  they  not  in  common  use?" 
To  answer  these  questions  she  visited  some  seventy 
classes  in  various  parts  of  the  United  States  and 
sent  a  questionnaire  to  one  hundred  and  sixty-five 
teachers  to  learn  their  ideas  regarding  study  and 
to  ascertain  what  they  try  to  have  their  pupils  do 
when  they  teach  them  to  study.  Another  question- 
naire was  sent  to  principals  of  schools  to  be  filled 
out  after  certain  recitations  had  been  observed. 
"Careful  examination  of  the  results  of  the  observa- 
tions and  of  both  questionnaires  compelled  the  con- 
clusion that,  although  pupils  possess  ability  to 
employ  the  various  factors  of  proper  study,  the 
teachers  lack  a  clear  conception  of  what  such  study 
is."  They  "tend  to  exact  memorizing." 

That  children  study  words  rather  than  thoughts 
was  the  conclusion  of  an  investigation  made  by 
An  investigation  Miss  Martha  Baldwin.*  They 
and  its  conclusions  stu(jy  jn  a  mechanical  way  which 

enables  them  to  say  that  they  have  studied  the 
lesson  the  required  length  of  time.  "They  read  the 
words  over  and  over,  and  doubtless  got  more  con- 
fused the  more  they  read."  The  investigation  shows 
loss  of  time,  the  acquisition  of  bad  habits  of  study 
*  Archives  of  Psychology,  No.  12,  March,  1909. 


EFFICIENT  TEACHING  53 

by  mind-wandering,  memorizing  of  words  without 
understanding  the  thought,  and  lack  of  concentra- 
tion. 

Reavis,*  in  his  study  of  pupils  in  the  grades, 
found  that  children  do  not  know  how  to  acquire 
Another  efficient  habits  of  work.  They  do 

investigation  not  ^now  what  habits  are  efficient. 

Well  intentioned  children  often  go  blundering  along, 
adopting  finally,  perhaps,  a  lazy,  loose  habit  of 
work,  or  they  acquire  no  habit  except  that  of  mind- 
wandering,  catching  an  idea  now  and  then  during 
the  lucid  intervals  between  the  flight  of  pleasanter 
ideas.  Pupils'  habits  of  study,  Reavis  says,  may 
be  analyzed,  the  individual  weaknesses  discovered, 
and  the  teacher  will  then  know  when  and  how  con- 
sciously to  plan  to  strengthen  or  inhibit  certain 
habits.  But  this,  of  course,  implies  that  the  teacher 
first  learn  how  to  study. 

This  problem  of  producing  a  body  of  pupil  work- 
ers is,  of  course,  fundamental  to  good  teaching. 
A  gage  of  The  reason  for  the  emphasis  on 

good  teaching  recognition  of  individual  traits 
of  children,  in  the  early  part  of  this  chapter,  was 
that  such  recognition  tends  to  promote  study.  It 
matters  not  how  well  a  subject  may  be  presented, 
the  result  will  be  unimportant  unless  the  pupils 
react,  and  the  measure  of  their  reaction  is  the 
strength  of  their  desire  to  find  out  something  more 

*  Elementary  School  Teacher,  Vol.  12,  p.  71 ;  School  Re- 
view, Vol.  19,  p.  398. 


54  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

about  the  matter  for  themselves.  If  this  desire 
is  so  irresistible  that  it  drives  them  to  reference 
books  for  further  information,  the  recitation  has 
been  a  success.  Moreover,  they  should  be  able  to 
distinguish  between  confused  and  clear  knowledge, 
and  they  do  not  make  this  distinction  when  they 
are  satisfied  with  merely  "learning"  the  lesson.  Un- 
less their  study  starts  questions  that  will  not  remain 
unanswered  the  success  of  the  work  with  them 
may  be  doubted. 

Grappling  with  a  puzzling  question  may  be  made 
quite  as  exciting  for  a  boy  as  an  involved  "play" 
The  use  of  a  ^  football.  Children  are  over- 

study  program  flowing  with  curiosity  for  ex- 
planations and  if  the  demand  for  answers  to  their 
torrent  of  queries  ends  at  the  entrance  to  the 
schoolroom  the  teacher  may  well  examine  himself 
and  his  method  for  the  cause.  And  yet  a  super- 
intendent, who  has  evidently  given  a  good  deal  of 
attention  to  the  conditions  prevailing  in  the  schools, 
says  that  "every  term  a  great  number  of  pupils  are 
passed  from  the  grammar  schools  into  the  high 
schools,  and  many  of  them  are  absolutely  ignorant 
as  to  what  it  means  to  grapple  with  an  intellectual 
problem.  Unless  some  high-school  teacher  is  wise 
and  sympathetic  enough  to  help  them  find  out  how 
to  study,  they  flounder  around  helplessly  for  a 
few  months,  or  at  most  a  year  or  two,  finally  to 
drop  out,  disgusted  with  school,  books,  teacher  and 


EFFICIENT  TEACHING  55 

education,  because  they  never  really  learned  how 
to  work."*  As  an  illustration  of  how  weak  a 
hold  questions  and  problems  often  have  on  children, 
this  superintendent  goes  on*  to  say  that  on  one 
occasion  he  observed  that  a  large  proportion  of  the 
pupils  in  his  school  studied  three  or  four  lessons 
during  one  hour.  "These  pupils  thought  they  had 
prepared  their  lessons  for  the  entire  day  in  one 
study  period.  The  rest  of  their  time  that  was  not 
spent  in  recitation  was  wasted  in  looking  around, 
talking,  writing  notes  and  in  other  kinds  of  idle- 
ness. ...  A  few  tests  brought  out  the  fact  that 
many  of  our  pupils  did  not  know  how  to  study. 
They  worked  well  while  tasks  were  easy,  but  when 
difficulties  were  encountered  in  the  work  on  which 
they  were  engaged  it  was  dropped  at  once  and  a 
new  task  was  sought."  Surely  no  one  will  maintain 
that  this  pen  sketch  of  a  schoolroom  exaggerates  the 
conditions. 

An  attempt  has  recently  been  made  to  ascertain 
the  extent  to  which  high-school  children  understand 
An  experiment  and  act  on  suggestions.  The  ex- 
in  suggestion  periment  was  made  on  a  first  year 

mathematics  class,  t  The  suggestions  were  given  one 
morning  with  unusual  care.  "The  pupils  were  then 
told  that  the  next  fifteen  minutes  would  be  given  to 
studying  the  lesson,  and  that  they  should  begin 

*  The  Importance  of  a  Study-Program  'for  High  School 
Pupils,  by  W.  C.  Reavis.  School  Review,  Vol.  19,  p.  398. 

t  Teaching  High  School  Pupils  How  to  Study,  by  Ernest 
R.  Breslich,  School  Review,  Vol.  20,  p.  505. 


56  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

the  assigned  work  immediately.  The  experiment 
showed  at  once  that  the  pupils  did  not  appreciate 
the  value  of  limited  time,  for  all  were  slow  in  begin- 
ning. It  took  some  of  them  the  whole  fifteen  min- 
utes to  go  through  the  technique  of  getting  started. 
Several  evidently  were  not  in  the  habit  of  working 
alone,  for  they  looked  about  helplessly  and  simply 
imitated  the  others.  However,  these  same  pupils 
had  come  to  the  class  room  daily  with  their  lessons 
well  prepared.  Very  little  was  accomplished  in  the 
fifteen  minutes,  indicating  that  the  pupils  very  prob- 
ably wasted  much  time  in  studying  their  assign- 
ments of  home  work.  Although  the  class  had  been 
in  the  high  school  only  a  short  time,  the  teacher  had 
been  presupposing  a  habit  of  study  which  did  not 
exist."  The  pupils  who  were  helpless  in  their  work 
and  simply  imitated  the  others,  yet  daily  came  with 
lessons  apparently  well  prepared,  probably  received 
injudicious  help  at  home. 

The  results  of  home  work  were  investigated  by 
the  writer  from  whom  we  have  been  quoting.    Two 

Results  of  an  in-  dasses>  One  a  Iittle.  weaker  than 
vestigation  of  the  other  but  taking  the  same 
home  work  wor^  were  gelected  f or  the  ex_ 

periment.  The  weaker  class,  without  home  work 
assignment,  studied  under  supervision  in  the  school 
and  the  stronger  class  was  given  home  work  accord- 
ing to  the  usual  custom  of  the  school.  The  subse- 
quent tests  showed  that  the  weaker  class  under  su- 
pervised study  excelled  the  stronger  class  without 


EFFICIENT  TEACHING  57 

supervised  study  but  with  daily  home  worE  Sev- 
eral of  the  lowest  in  the  weaker  division  brought 
their  standing  up  to  a  creditable  grade.  "Both 
classes  accomplished  the  same  work  within  the  reg- 
ulation time  although  the  weaker  section  did  no 
home  work  and  the  stronger  spent  (or  was  sup- 
posed to  spend)  an  hour  and  fifteen  minutes  daily 
on  the  assigned  lesson." 

Under  the  usual  system  of  instruction  the  teacher 
is  likely  to  use  most  of  the  time  in  testing  the  pupils' 
Need  of  more  knowledge  and  in  imparting  new 
pupil  initiative  knowledge.  The  pupils  follow  his 
questions  and  explanations  and,  having  good  mem- 
ories, they  are  able  to  give  back  in  a  more  or  less 
disjointed,  if  not  distorted,  form  much  of  what  they 
hear  and  learn;  but  all  observations  of  the  ways  in 
which  children  study  seem  to  indicate  that  there  is 
little  personal  reaction.  They  do  not  learn  by  do- 
ing. Frank  McMurry  found  that  they  have  little, 
if  any,  initiative.  "It  was  their  custom  (in  the 
classes  under  observation)  to  wait  for  assistance 
and  direction — even  to  sit  down — and  it  was  a  cus- 
tom so  well  established  that  five  weeks  of  daily 
work  with  them  in  history  and  geography,  with  the 
avowed  object  of  breaking  it  up,  only  barely  began 
a  reform.  .  .  .  Who  will  assert  that  such  lack 
of  initiative  is  natural?"*  Adaptation  to  the  school 
habit  of  awaiting  help  had  evidently  become  too 
firmly  fixed  to  be  cured  by  five  weeks  of  treatment. 

*Hvw  to  Study  and  Teaching  How  to  Study. 


58  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

The  absence  of  all  incentives  to  even  the  simplest 
kind  of  originality  is  one  of  the  common  criticisms 

of  the  recent  educational  surveys. 
Reports  of  school  .  J 

surveys  on  The  pupils  are  doing  too  little 

initiative  studying   and   thinking  and   too 

much  getting  of  lessons  and  reciting,"  according 
to  the  report  on  the  East  Orange  (New  Jersey) 
schools ;  in  the  high  schools  of  Vermont,  the  inves- 
tigators of  the  Carnegie  Foundation  noticed  that 
the  responses  were  "slow  and  furtive";  answers 
had  to  be  "pumped  or  suggested."  There  was  no 
spontaneous  reaction  to  the  content  of  the  lesson; 
and,  again,  in  Ohio,  the  State  School  Survey  Com- 
mission says  that  "insufficient  attention  is  p^id  in 
all  types  of  schools  to  developing  the  pupil's  power 
of  initiative,  the  capacity  for  team  work,  and  of 
habits  of  study  and  cooperation."  In  summarizing, 
the  report  adds  that  "the  most  common  fault  of 
teaching  observed  in  thirteen  hundred  eighty-five 
complete  exercises  were,  teaching  from  the  book 
exclusively,  leading  questions,  and  unnecessary  tell- 
ing" by  the  teacher,  all  of  which,  of  course,  pre- 
vents the  growth  of  initiative  because  the  method 
offers  no  stimulation  to  original  effort. 

The  evidence  from  these  various  experiments  and 
investigations  indicates  that  pupils  do  not  know  how 
Conclusions  from  to  study  and  that  some  of  the  time 
these  experiments  spent  jn  "hearing  lessons"  might 
be  better  employed  in  helping  them  learn  this  art. 
The  reform,  however,  should  begin  with  the  first 


EFFICIENT  TEACHING  59 

day  of  school  when  the  teacher  is  new  and,  for  that 
reason,  an  object  of  some  anxiety.  With  the  appear- 
ance of  "the  new  teacher"  the  children  are  in  a  state 
of  what  may  be  called  expectant  equilibrium.  They 
anticipate  changes  and  are  more  or  less  prepared  to 
adapt  themselves  to  them.  Their  habits  are  in  solu- 
tion, as  it  were,  ready  to  crystallize  into  new  forms. 
This  is  the  time  when  a  vigorous  personality  molds 
new  types  of  thought  and  action. 

We  have  been  considering  efficiency  in  teaching 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  work  the  pupils  do 
when  at  their  studies.     There  is, 
however,  another  vantage-ground 

— the  art  of  from  which  this  same  subject  may 

questioning  .        .  «  .     « 

be  observed,  and  that  is  the  kind 

and  number  of  questions  which  teachers  ask.  Obvi- 
ously, the  sort  of  questions  which  experience  leads 
children  to  expect  will  largely  determine  their  meth- 
od of  study.  It  is  another  case  of  adaptation.  As 
far  as  possible  children  fit  their  study  to  the  ques- 
tions they  expect.  If  the  running-fire  method  is 
used,  answers  of  a  single  word  or  two  will  be  given 
and  thinking  will  yield  to  memory. 

A  valuable  investigation  of  the  art  of  question- 
ing, as  it  is  practised  in  the  schools,  has  recently 
An  investigation  been  made  by  Miss  Romiett  St£- 
of  this  art  yens.*  The  investigation  covered 

a  period  of  four  years  and  included  grades  from  the 

*  The  Question  as  a  Measure  of  Efficiency  in  Instruction, 
by  Romiett  Stevens,  Columbia  University. 


60  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

£> 

seventfi  grammar  through  the  last  year  of  the  higK 
school.  Twenty  lessons  were  stenographically  re- 
ported. These  reports  were  afterward  submitted; 
to  the  teachers  of  the  several  classes  for  correction. 
In  addition  to  this  set  of  shorthand  reports,  in  each! 
of  which  everything  said  by  the  teacher  and  pupils 
was  taken  down,  two  different  studies  in  observa- 
tion were  made.  First,  a  series  of  one  hundred 
random  observations  in  various  subjects  of  the  cur- 
riculum was  made  for  the  purpose  of  counting  and 
noting  the  number  and  nature  of  the  questions 
asked;  and  second,  a  series  of  observations  of  ten 
selected  classes,  each  class  being  followed  through 
an  entire  school-day  to  study  the  "question-and- 
answer  stimulus  in  the  aggregate  as  it  is  adminis- 
tered to  school  children  daily."  On  going  to  a 
school  for  the  purpose  of  observing  and  obtaining 
stenographic  reports  the  classes  of  the  best  teachers 
were  always  selected.  This  detailed  statement  is 
given  to  show  that  the  conclusions  are  drawn  from 
teaching  far  above  the  average  of  even  our  best  city 
schools. 

The  most  profitable  questions  are,  of  course,  those 
that  come  as  the  result  of  reflection  and  which  are 

put  to  obtain  information  needed 
The  resulting  data  f    '  «.  , .  ,  < 

in   thinking   out   some   problem. 

Naturally,  the  greater  part  of  these  must  come  from 
the  pupils,  and  one  of  the  tests  of  good  teaching  is 
the  number  of  such  questions.  If  they  are  not  asked, 


EFFICIENT  TEACHING  61 

it  is  pretty  good  evidence  that  there  is  no  think- 
ing. Now  Miss  Stevens'  stenographic  reports  show 
thirty  questions  of  this  sort  out  of  a  total  of  two 
thousand,  and  some  of  these  thirty  were  asked  by 
the  teachers  to  ascertain  whether  note-books  were 
ready.  Further,  Miss  Stevens  estimates  that  among 
these  same  two  thousand  questions  there  were  at 
most  only  two  or  three  hundred  which  might  be 
said  to  stimulate  reflection.  But  a  large  proportion 
of  even  these  questions,  she  adds,  were  of  the  kind 
represented  by  "What  do  you  think?"  and  others 
of  a  similar  nature. 

Almost  total  lack  of  natural  questions — questions 
asked  because  of  desire  for  information  needed  in 
Lack  of  questions  thinking— was  a  common  fault 
from  pupils  found  observed  by  the  Ohio  State  School 
by  school  surveys  0  ^  .  .  rn,  -n 

Survey  Commission.  The  Port- 
land (Oregon)  School  Survey  Committee  also  found 
entire  absence  of  originality.  "Except  in  one  ex- 
ercise, in  all  my  visits  to  grammar-grade  rooms," 
says  the  investigator,  "I  heard  not  a  single  ques- 
tion asked  by  a  pupil,  not  a  single  remark  or  com- 
ment made  to  indicate  that  the  pupil  had  any  really 
vital  interest  in  the  subject-matter  of  the  exercise; 
on  not  a  single  occasion  was  there  interested  dis- 
agreement and  active  discussion  over  any  point  to 
show  that  the  pupils  were  thinking  independently." 

Closely  connected  with  the  small  number  of 
thought-provoking  questions  which  these  investiga- 


62  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

The  danger  of  tions  reveal  is  the  rapidity  with 
rapid  questioning  which  Miss  Stevens  heard  ques- 
tions asked.  From  two  to  four  a  minute  was  the  av- 
erage during  the  forty  minute  periods.  Obviously, 
children  will  not  learn  to  think  when  questions  are 
shot  at  them  by  this  rapid-fire  process.  There  is  no 
inducement  to  think  because  the  method  appeals  to 
verbal  memory — even  associative  memory  plays  lit- 
tle part — and  children  are  very  quick  to  adapt  their 
mode  of  study  to  the  plan  that  brings  the  best  im- 
mediate results.  When  under  fire  of  questions  the 
best  protection  is  to  have  the  bit  of  information  on 
the  end  of  the  tongue  ready  to  be  dropped  out,  pref- 
erably in  a  single  word,  without  the  delay  of  a  mo- 
ment's reflection. 

Even  with  history,  especially  suited  for  training 
in  discriminative  judgment,  "in  the  hundreds  of 
Concerning  the  class  rooms  where  I  have  made 
form  of  questions  observations  of  the  questioning," 
says  Miss  Stevens,  "I  have  found  very  few  ques- 
tions so  framed  by  the  teachers  that  they  called  for 
any  individual  judgments.  .  .  .  Analysis  of  the 
six  stenographic  reports  on  history  reveals  the  fact 
that  by  classifying, as  a  judgment  question  every 
one  that  could  possibly  involve  the  element  of  judg- 
ment the  highest  attainment  is  twenty-eight  in  a 
total  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five,  and  twenty- 
nine  in  a  total  of  one  hundred  and  five,  while  the 
lowest  record  was  three  in  sixty."  But  Miss  Ste- 
vens further  observes,  in  this  connection,  "that  the 


EFFICIENT  TEACHING  63 

judgments  were  largely  upon  choice  of  words  with 
reference  to  historical  interpretation.  Removing 
many  of  the  quoted  questions  from  their  history 
setting,  one  might  as  easily  believe  that  they  were 
taken  from  an  English  lesson."  The  Ohio  State 
Survey  Commission  also  found  that  in  the  teaching 
of  history  "there  was  little  sign  of  real  activity  on 
the  part  of  the  pupils,  questions  of  any  kind  by 
pupils  being  extremely  rare." 

The  amount  of  time  monopolized  by  teachers  was 
another  striking  defect  in  teaching  revealed  by  Miss 

Stevens'  investigation.    The  aver- 
Concernmg  the  °  .   . 

monopoly  of  time  age  percentage  of  teacher  activity 
by  teachers  jn  twentv  stenographic  reports,  as 

measured  by  the  number  of  words  spoken,  was  six- 
ty-four against  thirty-six  collective  pupil  activity. 
A  city  superintendent,  stirred  by  the  report,  in- 
spected his  own  schools  to  see  whether  it  could 
be  possible  that  his  teachers  were  doing  so 
much  of  the  class  work  and  he  estimated  the  teach- 
er activity  in  his  schools  at  from  eighty-five  to 
ninety-five  per  cent,  when  the  teachers  were  not 
lecturing.  Even  in  classes  in  which  the  number 
of  questions  was  reduced  from  four  to  two  or  less 
per  minute,  the  collective  pupil  activity  was  only 
about  thirty-seven  per  cent  The  children's  part  in 
the  recitation  consisted  chiefly  in  occasionally  punc- 
tuating the  teacher's  answers  and  remarks  with  a 
word  or  two.  Evidently  teachers  "carry  the  ball" 
too  much  as  a  boy  once  said.  Thinking  does  not 


64  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

differ  greatly  from  football  in  the  manner  of  acquir- 
ing the  art.  There  is  but  one  way  of  learning 
either,  and  that  is  by  "playing  the  game"  and  "play- 
ing hard."  In  neither  case  is  skill  acquired  by  sit- 
ting in  the  bleachers  and  watching  others.  What- 
ever the  occupation  the  only  way  to  gain  proficiency 
is  by  actually  doing  it.  Children  rarely  work  harder 
than  the  conditions  require  and  if  teachers  prefer  to 
do  the  work  for  them  the  pupils  will  not  deprive 
them  of  the  pleasure. 

The  problem  of  efficient  teaching  is  how  to  force 
children  to  think.    Work  will  then  take  care  of  it- 

_.  self.  The  desire  for  answers  to 
Kernel  of  efficient 

teaching — train  questions  that  seem  to  contradict 

children  to  think  knowledge    and    experience    and 

which  will  not  down  until  the  apparent  contradiction 
has  been  removed,  is  what  is  wanted  in  the  school. 
When  this  attitude  is  produced  and  responsibility 
put  upon  the  pupils  they  develop  the  power  to  start 
things  and  carry  them  through.  Following  a  leader, 
even  though  that  leader  be  the  teacher,  tends  to  take 
from  children  whatever  latent  ability  for  initiative 
they  may  have.  This  effect  has  often  been  observed 
on  adults.  A  man  kept  for  a  number  of  years  in  a 
subordinate  position  with  all  his  work  laid  out  loses 
the  power  to  think  and  act  independently.  Though 
pupils  adapt  themselves  to  predigested  mental  nutri- 
ment yet,  in  their  more  serious  moments,  they  rebel. 
"We  don't  need  to  think,"  said  a  boy  of  fourteen, 
recently,  to  the  writer.  "We  just  follow  the  book." 


EFFICIENT  TEACHING  65 

Miss  Stevens  found  this  criticism  true.  "It  is  the 
book  first  and  always,"  she  says.  Knowledge  and 
experience  are  not  necessarily  used  just  because  one 
has  them.  Their  use  must  be  learned  like  the  han- 
dling of  any  other  tool ;  and  skill  can  be  gained  only 
by  those  who  do  the  things  themselves. 

When  responsibility  is  put  upon  the  pupils,  when 
their  own  thoughts  and  investigations  at  home  and 
in  the  library  rank  above  the  text-book  and  even 
above  the  teacher's  statements,  they  will  adapt  them- 
selves to  thinking,  which  after  all  is  a  pleasant  pas- 
time, and  so  many  questions  will  arise  that  the  hour 
will  be  too  short.  Then  teaching  will  be  efficient, 
for  children  will  be  taught  to  do  their  own  work 
"as  if  you  taught  them  not." 


CHAPTER  III 

GETTING   RESULTS 

YOU  have,  I  am  sure,  read  the  story  of  Alice  in 
Wonderland,  and  you  will  recall  that  when 
Alice  had  lost  her  way  in  the  maze  of  wonderful 
sights  she  met  the  Cheshire  cat. 

"  'Would  you  tell  me,  please,  which  way  I  ought 
to  go  from  here  ?'  said  Alice. 

"  That  depends  a  good  deal  on  where  you  want 
to  get  to/  said  the  Cat. 

"  'I  don't  much  care  where — *  said  Alice. 

"  Then  it  doesn't  matter  which  way  you  go,'  said 
the  Cat. 

" ' — so  long  as  I  get  somewhere,'  Alice  added 
as  an  explanation. 

"  'Oh,  you're  sure  to  do  that,'  said  the  Cat,  'if 
you  only  walk  long  enough.' ' 

The  Cheshire  cat  understood  the  philosophy  of 
good  teaching  as  well  as  of  walking.  Fear  is  often 

Progress  through     exPressed  for  the  welfare  of  chil- 
trial  and  error         dren    under    teachers    who    are 

trying  to  "get  somewhere"  by 
experiments,  but  the  ones  who  really  need  our  sym- 
pathy are  those  in  schools  where  the  same  method 

66 


GETTING  RESULTS  67 

is  followed  day  after  day.  The  teacher  who  tries 
new  ways  may  make  mistakes,  but  trial  and  error 
are  the  method  of  progress.  They  are  also  the 
method  of  good  teaching. 

A  few  days  ago  the  writer  attended  a  teachers' 
meeting  in  which  new  plans  of  work  were  being 
discussed. 

"I  have  gone  through  the  whole  series  of  fads/' 
one  teacher  said.  "I  tried  them  all  as  fast  as  they 

Successful  experi-  came  out>  and  they  a11  failed  We 
ments  dependent  had  better  hold  to  what  has  stood 
on  mental  attitude  tfae  test  Qf  time  „  Suppose  Ehr. 

lich  had  said  that  after  trying  six  hundred  and  five 
experiments.  He  would  have  missed  by  a  single 
experiment  one  of  the  greatest  medical  discoveries 
of  the  age.  After  all,  success  is  relative.  Were 
Ehrlich's  six  hundred  and  five  experiments  failures? 
If  they  were  he  would  never  have  attained  his  goal. 
For  it  were  folly  to  think  that  his  discovery  was  an 
accident.  He  learned  something  from  each  experi- 
ment, gradually  eliminating  one  error  after  another, 
always  mindful  of  his  purpose.  And  right  here  we 
see  the  reason  for  the  failure  of  the  experiments  that 
the  teacher  tried.  He  went  through  the  list  as  many 
travelers  to  Europe  "study"  art.  They  visit  the 
galleries,  view  the  paintings  starred  in  Baedecker 
and  pass  on.  The  dividends  of  experience  are  al- 
ways in  proportion  to  what  we  ourselves  invest  in 
the  enterprise.  Experiments  are  planned  experi- 
ence and  their  success  requires  confidence  in  the 


(58  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

method  and  enthusiasm  for  results.  One  rarely 
succeeds  in  doing  what  one  believes  will  fail.  In 
such  cases  the  mental  attitude  is  in  opposition  to 
success. 

Experience  that  counts  is  not  gained  by  merely 
living.  Rousseau  was  right  when  he  said  that  a  man 
Experience  that  may  be  buried  at  the  age  of  a 
counts  hundred  years,  who  really  had 

been  dead  from  the  hour  of  his  birth.  Experience 
involves  interpretation  of  conditions  and  situations. 
Data  gathered  for  the  purpose  of  discovering  new 
meaning  becomes,  for  the  thoughtful,  data  with 
meaning.  But  events  may  come  and  go  and  leave 
no  impress.  This  was  the  case  with  a  teacher  of 
fifteen  years5  "experience"  who  recently  said  to  a 
beginner,  "You  will  not  be  so  enthusiastic  about 
your  work  when  you  have  taught  longer." 

The  life  of  an  infant  is  a  "big,  blooming,  buzzing 
confusion,"  William  James  once  remarked.  That 
Education  as  in-  *s  what  life  always  is,  and  educa- 
terpretation  of  life  t;on>  jn  the  highest  sense,  is  only 

an  attempt  to  bring  a  little  order  into  this  confusion 
and  to  clarify  it  as  far  as  available  knowledge  per- 
mits. This  involves  interpretation,  and  interpreta- 
tion requires  the  accumulation  of  data  for  compari- 
son in  order  that  the  essential  may  be  separated  from 
the  accidental.  Only  through  the  elimination  of  the 
unessential  factors  can  we  discover  cause  and  effect, 
and  if  we  do  not  do  this  we  are  only  living  through 
the  events  which  would  give  us  experience  if  rightly 


GETTING  RESULTS  69 

interpreted.  We  are  not  getting  experience.  Inter- 
pretation necessitates  thinking,  which  has  never 
been  popular  because  of  its  difficulty.  "I  am  in- 
clined to  hold  that  man  really  thinks  very  little  and 
very  seldom/'  said  Wundt,  not  long  ago,  when  com- 
paring man  with  the  lower  animals,  and  Josh  Bill- 
ings expressed  the  same  conviction  in  his  quaint 
way  when  he  said,  "'Tain't  what  men  don't  know 
that  makes  trouble  in  the  world,  it's  what  they  know 
for  certain  that  ain't  so." 

Teaching  is  much  the  same  as  other  occupations. 
We  shall  find  in  a  later  chapter  that  business  men 

who  are   satisfied   with   the   old 
Contentment  fatal  .  , ,   .        , ,  .          .        .,   , , 

ways  of  doing  things  inevitably 

give  way  to  the  more  progressive.  In  science  no 
one  lasts  long  who  does  not  seek  to  add  to  knowl- 
edge by  investigation  and  experiments.  Content- 
ment is  death.  "It  is  a  signe  his  wits  grow  short, 
when  he  is  pleased ;  or  a  signe  of  wearinesse,"  said 
that  keen  critic  of  human  nature,  Montaigne. 

I  know  that  teachers  are  overworked.  They  are 
burdened  with  classes  and  teachers'  meetings  and 
Exhilaration  of  reports  which  are  of  no  use  ex- 
real  experiments  cept  to  fill  the  superintendent's 
annual  report  with  figures  that  are  never  read.  A 
real  experiment,  however,  gives  zest  to  class  work 
and  the  teacher  who  is  enthusiastic  over  the  results 
is  amazed  to  find  his  "wearinesse"  gone.  Fatigue 
is  quite  as  often  the  effect  of  monotony  as  of  ex- 
cessive work.  In  an  experiment  the  children  catch 


70  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

the  enthusiasm  of  the  teacher.  Besides,  a  well 
planned  experiment  grows  out  of  the  needs  of  the 
pupils.  Each  child  then  becomes  a  problem  for 
study  instead  of  a  disturbance  to  be  suppressed ;  and 
the  solution  of  every  child-problem  contributes  to 
the  interpretation  of  the  experiment.  New  plans 
of  conducting  classes — plans  arranged  to  circum- 
vent school  indolence — keep  the  teacher  and  pupils 
active  because  of  the  unexpected  situations  which 
continually  arise  under  the  experimental  method. 
Constant  effort  to  fit  the  plan  to  the  instinct  of 
children  to  work  out  their  present  salvation — their 
tendency  to  construct,  to  direct,  to  manage,  and 
in  their  management  to  reconstruct  and  improve 
— keeps  the  teacher  alert  and  the  appeal  to  their 
native  impulses  stirs  the  enthusiasm  of  the  pupils. 
"The  attitude  of  the  teacher  as  she  teaches,  of  the 
pupil  as  he  learns,"  says  the  Portland  report,  "is 
unquestionably  of  far  more  importance  than  is  the 
subject  with  which  they  deal ;  when  passive,  neither 
teachers  nor  pupils  are  putting  themselves  into  their 
work." 

The  experiments  which  follow  are  not  theoretical. 
They  are  real.     They  have  been  actually  tried  in 

T  schools.     In   most   instances   the 

Learning  to  know 

one's  self  through  writer  has  corresponded  with  the 
teacher  in  charge  to  learn  some- 
thing more  than  mere  details.  They  are  offered  as 
examples  of  how  some  teachers  have  tried  to  vital- 
ize their  work.  Every  one  can  not  use  them.  The 


GETTING  RESULTS  71 

first  requirement  for  success  in  repeating  an  experi- 
ment is  like  conditions,  and  adults  are  not  alike. 
Personality  must  always  enter  into  the  reckoning 
in  computing  the  reaction  of  children.  I  mean  the 
personality  of  teachers.  For  the  response  of  groups 
of  children  under  the  same  conditions  may  be  fore- 
told. The  unknown  quantities,  whose  values  are  to 
be  determined,  are  adults.  And,  in  this  human  equa- 
tion these  values  must  be  computed  in  terms  of  the 
known  quantities  —  children.  Such  experiments, 
therefore,  perform  the  further  service  of  helping 
teachers  to  know  themselves,  since  one  success  is 
all  that  is  needed  to  justify  an  experiment.  Inabil- 
ity to  repeat  what  others  have  done  successfully 
gives  occasion  to  study  one's  own  personality  in  the 
light  of  the  facts  which  the  experiment  and  failure 
disclose.  As  an  illustration  of  this  method  of  check- 
ing up  one's  idiosyncrasies,  the  following  may  be 
quoted  from  a  letter  of  a  teacher  who  had  tried  the 
same  experiment  with  two  classes  of  about  one  hun- 
dred each  : 

"What  puzzled  me  was  that  the  two  classes  re- 
acted in  quite  different  ways.    I  am  inclined  to 

think,  however,  that  the  cause  lay 

Illustration  .  £    ,  T      .  / 

m  myself;  because  I  think  that  in 

the  second  year  I  unintentionally  assumed  more  au- 
thority than  when  trying  the  plan  for  the  first  time. 
Perhaps,  too,  the  fact  that  I  was  quite  evidently 
feeling  my  way  the  first  year  caused  the  children  to 
take  more  responsibility  on  themselves  so  as  to  help 


72  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

the  work  along.  I  shall  certainly  try  it  another 
year." 

Let  us  now  pass  to  the  first  of  our  series  of  ex- 
periments. The  following  is  a  plan  tried  in  teach- 
An  experiment  in  ing  first  year  composition  in  the 
composition  high  school.*  The  early  part  of 

the  work  was  given  to  practice  in  sentence  structure, 
variety  of  expression,  punctuation,  capitalization, 
paragraphing,  etc.  The  material  was  always  taken 
from  the  every-day  life  of  the  children.  In  this  way 
straightforward  narrative  without  plot  was  taught. 
The  experiment  itself  began  with  the  second  term. 
"In  beginning  this  subject,"  the  teacher  continues, 
"I  usually  take  some  narrative  of  a  simple  incident, 
a  buggy-ride,  for  instance.  I  ask  the  pupils  to  in- 
troduce 'something'  that  will  interfere  with  the  ride. 
Immediately  various  obstacles  are  suggested — a 
piece  of  paper  or  an  automobile,  at  which  the  horse 
is  frightened — and  before  we  know  it  a  simple  plot 
is  formed  of  the  resulting  runaway." 

The  teacher  then  announced  to  the  class  that  they 
might  write  a  book  on  "The  Adventures  of  John- 
Response  of  ny>"  "Johnny  to  be  a  mischievous 
children  smau  boy  and  the  adventures  to  be 
taken  from  various  stages  of  his  career.  Each 
composition — one  a  week — that  we  wrote  in  this 
term  was  to  constitute  a  chapter  of  the  story.  .  .  . 
There  were  a  few  dubious,  some  superior  and  many 


*  An  Experiment  in  Teaching  First-Year  Composition,  by 
Margery  Gordon,_5V/K?o/  Review,  Vol.  14,  p.  671. 


GETTING  RESULTS  73 

apathetic  members,  but  before  we  reached  the  end 
of  the  'Johnny'  series,  out  of  a  class  of  over  a  hun- 
dred there  were  not  more  than  four  or  five  who 
were  unresponsive.  Their  delight  in  creating  some- 
thing— in  the  thought  that  they  were  'authors'1 — • 
removed  the  idea  of  drudgery  which  the  word  com- 
position is  wont  to  suggest,  and  gave  them  an  acute 
interest  in  the  proceedings. 

"In  the  first  of  the  series,  'Johnny's  First  Battle/ 
I  gave  the  circumstances  of  the  story,  introduc- 
Some  details  'lng  Johnny  as  a  boy  of  four 

°* plan  years    who    had    been    given    a 

soldier's  suit  and  equipment  with  which  he  goes 
forth  to  conquer.  The  'something'  that  occasions 
the  plot  presents  itself  in  the  shape  of  a  turkey  gob- 
bler. A  battle  ensues.  Its  issue,  and  the  consequent 
story,  the  pupils  were  to  recount  according  to  their 
(own  ideas."  The  following  is  one  of  the  chapters 
which  was  written  by  a  pupil : 

JOHNNY'S  FIRST  BATTLE 

There  was  never  a  happier  little  boy  than  Johnny, 
ion  his  fourth  birthday,  for  Uncle  Harry  sent 
A  result  *"m  a  so^ier  suit  and  his  papa 

I  gave    him    a   gun   which    would 

really  shoot  a  rubber  ball.  The  tenth  of  May, 
Johnny's  birthday,  was  rainy  and  cool,  so  Johnny 
was  made  to  stay  in  the  house.  Before  the 
(day  was  over  he  had  broken  two  panes  of  glass 
and  hurt  every  one  in  the  house  from  grandma 
down  to  Baby  Ruth,  with  "the  horrid  gun,"  as 
grandma  called  it. 


74  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

That  evening,  Johnny's  big  brother  was  reading 
a  book  which  had  on  the  cover  a  picture  of  a 
soldier.  Johnny  asked  what  the  man  was  doing, 
and  when  he  was  told  that  the  man  had  started  out 
to  conquer  the  world,  it  set  his  little  mind  to  think- 
ing. When  his  mamma  tucked  him  into  bed,  he 
said,  "Mamma,  how  big  is  the  world?"  On  being 
told  it  was  many,  many  miles  around  he  gave  a 
little  sigh — but  soon  fell  asleep. 

When  Johnny  awoke,  he  asked  his  mamma  to 
dress  him  in  his  soldier's  suit.  After  having  his 
breakfast,  he  started  out  to  conquer  the  world.  He 
succeeded  in  subduing  the  world  as  far  as  the  barn- 
yard gate,  when  he  met  an  old  turkey  gobbler  who 
refused  to  be  subdued.  Discovering  that  he  had 
left  the  rubber  ball  at  home,  Johnny  hit  the  turkey 
with  his  gun.  At  this  the  turkey  commenced  peck- 
ing and  flapping  his  wings  in  Johnny's  face.  Johnny 
fought  bravely,  but  a  great  turkey  gobbler  was  too 
much  for  a  four-year-old  boy.  Mamma  heard  the 
screams,  ran  to  the  door,  and  seeing  what  was  hap- 
pening ran  to  Johnny's  assistance  with  a  broom. 
Johnny  was  brought  into  the  house,  a  very  much 
bruised,  but  very  happy,  little  boy,  for  he  thought 
he  had  conquered  at  least  half  the  world  and  could 
do  the  rest  to-morrow. 

After  titles  and  suggestions  for  the  plots  of  chap- 
ters, "Johnny  Runs  Away"  and  "Johnny's  First 
Day  at  School,"  had  been  given,  the  children  asked 
permission  to  choose  their  own  subjects  and  to  be 
allowed  to  work  them  up  as  each  desired  without 
suggestions  from  the  teacher.  The  following  is  one 
of  these  chapters : 


GETTING  RESULTS  75 

JOHNNY'S  PIGEON-BOXES 

At  the  age  of  ten  Johnny  had  a  great  'deal  of 

work  to   do,   at  least  he  thought   so,   and   often 

,  grew    very    angry    because    his 

Another  "chapter'   ^  ^  grayed  by  his  be- 

ing  called  into  the  house  to  do  some  work.  One 
day  Johnny  was  sent  out  to  watch  his  small  brother 
while  his  mother  ran  to  one  of  the  neighbors. 
The  carpenters  had  been  reshingling  the  summer 
kitchen  and  had  left  their  ladder  leaning  against 
the  house.  Johnny  saw  a  fine  opportunity  to  put 
in  operation  a  long-cherished  plan.  After  fastening 
the  baby  into  the  chair,  he  went  to  the  wood-shed 
after  some  pigeon-boxes  that  he  had  built  long  be- 
fore. He  mounted  the  ladder  for  the  purpose  of 
putting  these  boxes  on  the  roof  and  as  he  was 
drawing  his  knife  from  his  pocket,  it  slipped  from 
his  fingers  and  landed  with  a  loud  whack  on  the 
head  of  the  baby,  who  at  once  set  up  a  howl  that 
brought  his  mother  in  double-quick  order.  Johnny 
crawled  down  the  ladder  a  very  frightened  boy. 
His  fear  increased  as  his  mother  appeared  with 
a  large  switch  and  he  was  led  into  the  house.  What 
happened  in  the  house  is  known  only  to  Johnny, 
his  mother  and  the  switch. 

These  little  chapters  are  a  decided  relief  from  the 
spiritless  compositions  usually  offered.    The  teacher 

_-        r  made    this    discovery   when    she 

Effect  of  expen-  J 

ment  on  teacher  read  her  hundred  themes  each 
week.  She  opened  every  paper 
with  the  interest  that  attaches  to  a  story,  and  the 
amazing  and  beguiling  complications  that  were 
woven  into  plots  gave  a  continuous  succession  of 


76  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

pleasant  surprises.  The  effect  upon  the  children 
was  no  less  striking.  While  some  papers  were  very; 
faulty  and  many  needed  revision  and  rewriting,  an 
exceptionally  large  number  of  the  class,  according 
to  the  teacher,  learned  to  write  in  a  free,  easy  and 
natural  manner.  The  reason  for  their  success  is 
that  the  children  felt  that  the  work  was  theirs.  They 
were  authors.  Young  adolescents  are  always  inter- 
ested in  doing  things  when  responsibility  accom- 
panies the  work.  The  source  of  this  enthusiasm  is 
the  desire  to  control,  to  manage,  to  create,  and  when 
the  work  is  done,  to  feel  that  it  is  their  production. 
This  is  the  spirit  of  youth. 

Another  experiment  was  called  to  the  writer's  at- 
An  incident  about  tention  a  few  months  ago  by  the 
a  physics  class  following  item,  which  appeared  in 
one  of  the  New  York  papers  :* 

Every  boy  of  the  twenty-five  hundred  who  at- 
tended the  public  school  at  Broome  and  Willett 
Streets  was  fired  with  admiration  and  interest  when 
two  diminutive  Edisons  from  their  ranks  set  up  a 
telegraphic  system,  operated  by  wet  batteries  of  their 
own  construction  and  stretching  four  hundred  feet 
through  the  school  building  from  one  room  to 
another.  For  weeks  the  two  boys  had  been  reading 
the  life  of  Morse  and  studying  the  scientific  prin- 
ciple behind  this  use  of  electricity. 

Yesterday  they  were  ready  for  a  demonstration, 
and  the  principal  stood  beside  the  transmitter  and 

*  New  York  Times,  April  2,  1913.  Unessential  statements 
have  been  omitted  for  brevity.  The  report  names  two  boyi 
hut  the  principal  mentions  only  one. 


GETTING  RESULTS  77; 

dictated  tHe  first  message  sent  to  the  receiving  oper- 
ator in  the  distant  room. 

Since  a  recent  report*  of  the  United  States  Com- 
missioner of  Education  has  shown  that  physics  and 
other  high-school  sciences  have  been  rapidly  losing 
pupils,  the  writer  thought  the  evidence  of  enthusi- 
asm indicated  by  this  newspaper  item  worth  a  letter 
of  inquiry.  The  following  explanation  of  the  cause 
of  the  interest  has  been  taken  from  letters  received 
from  the  principal  of  the  school  and  the  teacher  of 
physics. 

"The  problem  of  arousing  and  maintaining  inter* 
est  in  the  study  of  elementary  science  is  largely 
Cause  of  their  solved  when  boys  can  be  induced 
enthusiasm  to  make  something  of  their  own. 

The  home  work  is  often  crudely  executed,  but  it 
delights  the  boys  because  it  works.  They  become 
very  enthusiastic  when  they  fashion  something  use- 
ful. The  study  of  pitch,  for  example,  is  not  essen- 
tially interesting  of  itself,  but  it  acquires  an  interest 
when  boys  can  play  melodies  on  violins  of  their  own 
making."  A  number  of  boys  in  this  school  con- 
structed violins  out  of  cigar  boxes  upon  which  sim- 
ple tunes  could  be  played.  Indeed,  a  "Cigar  Box 
Orchestra"  was  organized.  Equilibrium  toys,  pith 
ball  electroscopes,  various  kinds  of  batteries,  a 
model  of  a  steam-engine,  induction  coils  and  parts 
of  wireless  outfits  were  also  made.  Four  boys  in- 

*  Report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Educa- 
tion, 1910,  Vol.  II,  p.  1139. 


78  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

stalled  home-made  wireless  apparatus  in  their  homes. 
"In  a  word,  boys  make  things  for  the  fun  of  mak- 
ing them." 

The  writer  has  elsewhere*  described  the  "town- 
meeting  method"  of  teaching  history.  The  class 
Town-meeting  was  organized  into  a  New  Eng- 
method  of  teach-  land  town-meeting,  with  chair- 
man and  secretary,  and  the  reci- 
tations were  conducted  and  the  lessons  assigned  by 
the  chairman.  The  following  experiment,  which 
was  suggested  by  the  success  of  this  town-meeting 
plan,  has  been  carried  on  in  the  English  classes  of 
the  Somerville  (Massachusetts)  high  school.  The 
writer  is  indebted  to  the  teacher,  Miss  Elizabeth  H. 
Hunt,  for  the  interesting  description: 

"First  of  all,"  she  says,  "I  let  my  classes  decide 
whether  they  wish  to  be  governed  by  a  chairman. 
Similar  plan  of  If  they  do  not,  I  continue  to  act 
organization  as  their  head."  The  correspond- 

ence shows  that  they  usually  decide  to  elect  their  own 
chairman.  They  also  have  a  sort  of  Supreme  Court, 
or  legislative  body,  selected  by  ballot  from  their 
numbers.  This  court  decides  questions  which  con- 
cern the  success  of  the  class  work  and  has  the  power 
to  initiate  "legislation."  Miss  Hunt  then  con- 
tinues :  "I  am  always  the  referee  to  decide  all  cases 
which  the  judiciary  can  not  settle.  In  other  words, 
I  am  the  Court  of  Appeals.  When  the  pupils  find 
a  lazy  boy  or  girl  they  bring  him  up  standing  by 

*  Youth  and  the  Race,  pp.  238-240. 


GETTING  RESULTS  79 

means  of  a  law  which  they  pass  in  their  executive 
board  meetings  or  sometimes  in  the  class,  but  usual- 
ly in  the  former  to  sav.e  time.  The  board  meets  at 
the  close  of  the  recitation.  I  attend  when  they  re- 
quest my  presence,  but  they  usually  meet  by  them- 
selves and  report  their  decisions  to  the  class  at  the 
next  meeting.  We  have  the  'recall'  in  operation. 
If  they  do  not  like  the  decision  of  the  board,  they 
do  not  accept  it,  but  a  two-thirds  vote  is  needed  to 
overrule.  Then  a  pupil  has  the  right  to  appeal  to 
me  from  any  decision,  and  if  I  think  the  decision 
unjust  I  do  not  sustain  it,  but  give  another  penalty. 
I  rarely  fail,  however,  to  sustain  the  decision  of  the 
lower  court,  for  I  find,  as  a  rule,  that  those  whom 
the  class  elect  to  act  as  the  judiciary  branch  of  their 
organization  are  wise  enough  to  meet  conditions 
which  arise.  They  usually  lean  a  bit  toward  sever- 
ity and  sometimes  I  feel  it  necessary  to  ask  for 
clemency. 

"As  an  instance  of  how  the  class  manages  a  situ- 
ation, a  few  weeks  ago  my  class  of  boys  was  study- 
How  the  plan  was  ing  Quentin  Durward.  We  often 
earned  out  have  parts  of  a  chapter  read  in 

dialogue  form,  leaving  out  the  explanatory  matter. 
Suddenly  the  lesson  began  to  drop  into  just  the 
readings,  no  one  saying  anything  on  any  subject 
which  he  had  looked  up  outside  to  throw  light  on 
the  lesson.  The  chairman  of  the  judiciary  board 
arose  and  said  very  energetically :  'I  think  that  we 
are  just  giving  our  members  a  chance  to  bluff 


8o  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

through  the  lessons.  Many  give  no  proof  that  they 
have  done  any  preparatory  work  ahead.  Any  fel- 
low can  get  up  here  and  do  what  we  are  doing 
without  any  preparation  and  we  don't  get  any  vari- 
ety out  of  it.  The  judiciary  committee  suggests 
that  in  the  future  only  two  scenes  be  allowed  at  a 
meeting  and  those  by  fellows  who  have  offered  oth- 
er work.'  This  was  at  once  put  to  a  vote  and  car- 
ried, a  good-natured  grin  being  noticeable  on  the 
faces  of  some  of  the  boys.  I  had  been  waiting  to 
see  how  they  would  meet  this  without  my  saying 
anything.  Had  this  been  a  class  where  all  depends 
on  the  teacher  for  support  no  one  would  have  said 
a  word.  The  chairman  of  that  week  had  gone  to 
the  judiciary  board  and  asked  it  to  act.  He  felt 
the  responsibility.  I  had  said  nothing. 

"The  other  day  the  same  class  took  up  another 
matter  that  I  knew  must  be  handled.  The  debates 
Absentees  dealt  come  once  a  week,  four  boys  at 
with  by  the  class  a  t;me<  Twice  lately  members  of 
the  team  had  been  absent  on  that  day,  thus  throw- 
ing out  the  others.  As  the  class  was  expected  to 
study  the  question  there  was  no  other  lesson  ready. 
The  second  time  this  happened  the  boys  were  indig- 
nant and  the  class  passed  a  law  that  unless  those 
having  parts  could  prove  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
judiciary  board  that  the  absence  was  unavoidable, 
'and  that  means  that  you  can't  get  up,'  those  failing 
should  prepare  two  debates,  and  in  any  case  where 
it  is  possible  they  should  let  the  others  know  in  time 


GETTING  RESULTS  81 

to  notify  the  class  to  prepare  a  lesson  from  the 
book.  'We  can't  afford,  fellows/  said  the  mover  of 
the  motion,  'to  waste  lessons  like  this/  No  one 
laughs  at  the  others  for  such  zeal.  It  is  their  work 
and  they  know  that  we  have  just  so  much  to  do  each 
day  to  cover  the  work  in  eight  weeks. 

"The  chairman  plans  the  work  for  the  following 
day,  then  calls  for  volunteers,  those  who  have  pre- 
Work  directed  pared  related  topics  outside  the 
by  pupils  lesson.  After  this  he  asks  ques- 

tions, selects  passages  to  be  read  or  takes  up  words 
needing  explanation.  At  the  close  of  the  hour  I 
may  comment  on  topics,  correct  the  mistakes  in  pro- 
nunciation which  they  have  overlooked  and,  in  fact, 
act  as  guide  or  helper.  But  it  often  happens  that 
there  is  no  need  for  me  to  speak  a  word  during  the 
entire  recitation. 

"If  there  is  disorder  they  handle  it  themselves, 
either  at  once  or  by  calling  the  offending  member 
Concerning  before  the  judiciary  board.  I 

discipline  always  tell  them  that,  like  any  gov- 

ernor, I  must  step  in  and  declare  martial  law  if  they 
can't  keep  order,  for  I  am  the  responsible  head  of 
the  school.  Once  I  stepped  in  too  soon,  and,  at  the 
close  of  school,  the  chairman  said  very  politely, 
'Miss  Hunt,  I  think  I  ought  to  have  had  a  little 
more  time  to  meet  that.  I  could  have  done  it.'  I 
apologized  to  him  and  admitted  that  I  had  made  a 
mistake.  It  is  hard  to  down  the  old  pedagogical 
training,  but  I  have  found  that  it  pays.  It  requires 


82  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

tact,  infinite  self-control  and  wisdom  to  hold  in 
abeyance  the  instinct  of  a  teacher  to  jump  in  and 
rob  the  children  of  the  experience  of  untangling 
their  own  snares,  but  if  the  teacher  can  only  learn 
to  let  them  work  out  their  problems,  even  if  they 
get  into  very  complicated  ones,  it  is  a  great  gain  for 
these  young  citizens  and  they  always  profit  from  it. 

"When  they  waste  time  in  unprofitable  discussion 
some  one  will  suddenly  say,  'Let's  get  down  to 
work.'  If  the  work  which  must  be  done  each  day 
is  not  finished  they  know  that  it  means  an  extra 
hour  somewhere,  so  they  take  their  medicine  with- 
out a  murmur  and  come  together  at  the  close  of 
school.  I  do  not  compel  them  to  come.  They  know 
that  it  is  necessary  and  the  chairman  calls  them  to- 
gether. Had  I  been  to  blame,  they  would  have 
grumbled.  But  they  feel  the  responsibility  and  act 
accordingly.  I  purposely  let  them  learn  the  price 
of  time. 

"As  to  the  work  accomplished,  I  know  that  we 
never  did  so  much  outside  reading  in  the  old  way. 

For   example,    one    of   my    best 

Results  of  plan          t  „          ,.   .  .  .  ,    •«. 

classes,  a  college  division,  wished 

to  dramatize  A  Tale  of  Two  Cities.  I  left  the  plan- 
ning of  the  entire  work  to  them.  We  went  into  a 
committee  of  the  whole,  broke  up  into  groups  and 
I  passed  from  one  group  to  another  as  they  beck- 
oned to  me.  LWe  finally  evolved  the  plan  of  appoint- 
ing four  leaders  who  should  choose  those  who  were 
to  divide  the  story  into  acts,  those  who  were  to  write 


GETTING  RESULTS  83 

the  scenes,  select  the  actors,  stage  managers,  etc. 
We  had  eight  weeks  in  which  to  do  it  and  they  kept 
their  forces  at  work  'day  and  night.'  When  they 
found  a  lazy  boy  who  refused  to  take  the  work 
assigned,  or  who  did  not  keep  at  it,  they  dealt  sum- 
marily with  him,  and  before  it  was  necessary  for 
me  to  take  a  hand  he  was  at  work.  Had  I  given 
them  such  an  ambitious  task  the  groans  would  have 
been  deep  and  loud.  I  was,  in  part,  responsible  for 
the  suggestion,  because  I  wanted  them  to  have  that 
practice,  but  I  should  never  have  required  it  of  them. 
They  did  it  wonderfully  well.  Each  day  a  scene 
was  ready.  The  writers  read  their  parts  and  the 
class,  viewing  it  as  a  play,  detected  faults,  gave  ad- 
vice, told  where  it  was  not  clear,  where  it  dragged, 
where  it  must  be  given  more  situation,  etc.  All  of 
the  principles  upon  which  we  had  drilled  in  the 
study  of  the  drama  during  the  early  part  of  the 
year  were  hunted  up  and  brought  forward  with  a 
great  display  of  wisdom.  A  year  of  study  in  the 
usual  way  would  not  have  accomplished  what  they 
did  in  that  short  time. 

"They  also  gained  a  much  better  appreciation  of 
the  whole  work  than  has  ever  been  the  case  in  any 
Growth  in  power  of  m7  classes  conducted  on  the 
to  think  traditional  plan.  One  boy  said  to 

me:  'Miss  Hunt,  I  never  knew  before  the  differ- 
ence between  the  work  of  a  novelist  and  that  of  a 
dramatist.  I  did  not  understand  the  drama  when 
we  studied  it  the  first  part  of  the  year,  but  now  I 


84  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

do/  This  is  only  one  of  manjr  instances  whidi 
might  be  cited. 

"The  other  day  in  a  debate  one  of  the  boys  criti- 
cized a  speaker  for  having  his  hands  in  his  pockets 
Improvement  while  speaking.  There  are  no 

in  manners  gir]s  present/  said  another.  The 

fellows  at  college  are  easy,  why  can't  we  be  ?'  One 
of  the  others  reminded  the  speaker  that  Miss  Hunt 
was  present  and  might  object.  I  at  once  said  that 
I  wished  them  to  act  in  the  matter  independently  of 
the  question  of  sex.  I  then  suggested  that  they 
take  it  to  the  higher  standard  of  what  the  best 
speakers  do  in  public.  They  observed  for  a  week 
and  then  unanimously  decided  to  keep  their  hands 
out  of  their  pockets  while  speaking. 

"The  following  is  another  instance  of  the  way 
in  which  a  social  attitude  develops  through  their 
A  result  of  feeling  of  responsibility.  One  of 

responsibility  the  boys  was  below  in  English. 

He  was  very  popular  and  was  one  of  the  candidates 
for  the  chairman  of  the  following  week.  We  had 
made  no  rule  about  grades.  The  boy,  however, 
rose  and  said,  seriously:  'I  am  down  in  English 
and  until  I  get  square  I  don't  want  to  be  your 
leader/  This  established  a  good  precedent  and 
brought  forward  another  question  which  I  was  hop- 
ing would  come  up.  Why  should  not  the  honor  of 
being  elected  chairman  be  a  spur  to  better  work? 
They  discussed  the  question  and  decided  that  the 
chairman  should  so  conduct  the  lesson  as  to  show 


GETTING  RESULTS  85 

that  he  was  studying  and  thus  get  his  credits.  This 
point  having  been  settled  they  then  decided  to  leave 
it  to  a  member's  choice  whether  he  would  accept  the 
honor,  if  down." 

Another  experiment — this  time  in  American  his- 
tory and  government — which  has  come  to  the  writ- 

Another  cxperi-  er>s  atten^on>  differs  somewhat 
ment  in  pupil-  from,  the  one  just  described  be- 
cause it  was  not  intended  to  give 
the  children  any  unusual  authority  and  control. 
After  the  work  had  started,  however,  the  teacher, 
on  account  of  alarming  symptoms,  was  suddenly 
forbidden  to  use  her  eyes.  Since  a  substitute  in  the 
middle  of  the  year  was  undesirable,  she  was  given 
permission  to  follow  any  plan  that  seemed  wise. 
Her  helplessness  necessitated  giving  the  children 
much  more  authority  than  had  originally  been 
planned,  and  the  children  responded  with  the  frank- 
ness that  they  always  show  when  responsibility  is 
put  upon  them.  It  makes  an  interesting  comment 
on  the  efficiency  of  pupil-government  that  in  the 
following  year,  when  the  teacher  recovered  !her 
health  and  again  assumed  the  authority  which,  dur- 
ing the  previous  year,  she  had  been  obliged  to  dele- 
gate to  her  pupils,  the  plan  failed.  With  loss  of 
responsibility  in  managing  their  work  the  interest 
of  the  children  dropped  to  the  level  of  that  in  the 
ordinary  recitation.* 

*  The  writer  is  indebted  to  Miss  Nellie  Hammond,  of 
Woburn,  Massachusetts,  for  the  following  description  of  the 
experiment. 


86  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

Having  spoken  of  the  trouble  with  her  eyes 
which  threatened  to  force  her  temporary  withdrawal 
from  the  school,  Miss  Hammond  says:  "After 
thinking  the  matter  over  carefully,  I  decided  to  take 
the  children  into  my  confidence.  I  explained  the 
situation  to  them  and  told  them  that  they  must  de- 
cide whether  I  should  put  in  a  substitute.  All  the 
classes  voted  that  if  I  would  stay  they  would  carry 
on  the  work  as  well  as  they  could  for  themselves. 

"The  recently  elected  school  committee  of  Wo- 
burnia,  our  school  city,  took  charge  of  the  senior 
Plan  of  work  for  class."  This  school  committee  of 
senior  class  eight  pupils  had  been  elected  some 

weeks  before  by  the  senior  class  from  its  members 
for  the  ptirpose  of  assisting  the  teacher  in  promot- 
ing the  interests  of  the  class.  The  divisions  were 
large  and  one  of  the  problems  was  to  have  each  pu- 
pil take  part  in  the  discussion  often  enough  to  as- 
sure daily  preparation.  This  committee  had  already 
responded  with  zeal  to  requests  for  assistance.  It 
had  made  many  suggestions  and  had  relieved  the 
teacher  of  much  of  the  routine  work.  Now,  of 
course,  Miss  Hammond  being  unable  to  use  her 
eyes,  the  responsibility  increased.  "I  gave  the  com- 
mittee outlines,  reading  lists  and  plans  of  work 
used  in  previous  years  from  which  they  assigned 
lessons,  topics  and  readings.  On  the  whole  I  think 
the  work  went  on  much  as  if  I  had  planned  it.  They 
showed  considerable  originality  in  the  study  of  local 
government.  The  seriousness  with  which  they  dis- 


GETTING  RESULTS  87 

cussed  existing  evils  and  the  weight  of  responsibil- 
ity which  they  seemed  to  feel  was  surprising.  I 
think  that  each  boy  felt  that  the  salvation  of  Wo- 
burn  rested  upon  his  shoulders." 

The  mayor  of  Woburnia,  the  school  city,  pre- 
pared an  inaugural  address  which  he  delivered  be- 
fore the  school.  His  address,  which  the  writer  has 
before  him,  is  a  very  creditable  discussion  of  the 
financial  condition  of  Woburn,  the  assessment  of 
property,  insurance,  the  fire  department,  water  de- 
partment and  schools. 

"The  junior  class,"  Miss  Hammond  continues, 
"had  no  organization  with  which  to  begin  their 

.  work  of  self -instruction,  so  they 

Plan  of  organi- 
zation of  junior       drafted  a  constitution.       As  this 

class  was  studying  modern  and 
current  history,  the  constitution,  after  stating  the 
object,  which  was  to  increase  the  interest  and  effi- 
ciency in  the  work,  made  provision  for  various  com- 
mittees. Among  others  there  were  the  Topic  Com- 
mittee, to  prepare  outlines,  the  Library  Committee, 
to  find  references  for  outside  reading,  the  Far  East 
Committee,  the  Near  East  Committee,  the  Commit- 
tee on  European  Affairs,  the  Committee  on  United 
States  Affairs,  the  Committee  on  State  Affairs  and 
the  Committee  on  Woburn  Affairs.  These  com- 
mittees were  to  report  on  historical  and  current 
topics  within  their  jurisdiction. 

"There  was  no  hesitation  on  the  part  of  any  one 
in  undertaking  his  share  of  the  work.  I  was  im- 


88  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

Spirit  of  pressed  with  the  business  spirit 

their  work  manifested.     There  seemed  to  be 

no  supersensitiveness  or  affectation.  The  work  had 
to  be  done  and  they  were  to  do  it,  so  each  did  his 
share  to  the  best  of  his  or  her  ability. 

"One  incident  showed  the  moral  feeling  that  de- 
velops under  pupil-government.  The  pupils  had 
Moral  effect  of  voted  to  take  a  secret  ballot  at 
pupil-government  the  recitation  following  an  ex- 
amination. A  ballot  marked  'yes'  indicated  that 
the  one  who  cast  it  neither  knew  nor  suspected  any 
one  of  cheating  while  a  ballot*  marked  'no'  meant 
that  the  voter  did  know  or  suspect  some  irregu- 
larity that  should  be  cleared  up.  At  the  first  ballot 
there  were  twenty  'yeses'  and  ten  'noes.'  A  dis- 
cussion of  the  duty  of  the  ten  voters  followed. 
There  was  a  strong  disinclination  to  tell  on  any 
one,  but  at  the  same  time  they  felt  that  the  public 
welfare  should  be  protected.  Finally,  it  was  de- 
cided that  each  one  of  the  ten  should  come  to  me 
privately  and  explain  the  reason  for  his  or  her 
vote,  and  I  was  instructed  to  use  my  discretion 
about  accepting  or  rejecting  the  examination.  I 
took  no  part  in  the  discussion,  telling  them  that 
they  should  work  out  a  line  of  action  for  them- 
selves. At  the  close  of  school,  a  boy  came  and 
confessed  that  he  had  cheated.  He  said  that  he 
wanted  to  make  sure  of  getting  on  the  football 
team.  When  I  asked  him  why  he  confessed  he 


GETTING  RESULTS  89 

said  that  the  others  would  not  tell  on  him  and  he 
did  not  want  them  to  lose  the  test." 

For  a  class  in  Grecian  history,  the  Athenian  As- 
sembly is  perhaps  the  most  natural  form  of  organi- 
An  experiment  in  zation  and  it  was  in  the  Barringer 
Greek  history  High  School  at  Newark  (New  Jer- 
sey) that  the  following  experiment  was  tried.* 

The  duties  of  the  officers  were  modeled,  as  nearly 
as  possible,  after  the  functions  of  the  corresponding 
Outline  officials  in  the  ancient  Athenian 

of  Plan  Assembly.  The  epistates  (chair- 

man) was  elected  and  in  each  case  the  best  student 
was  chosen  by  his  fellows  for  this  office.  But 
"the  offices  of  keryx  ( herald )  and  toxotes  (ser- 
geant-at-armsy  were  bestowed,  in  at  least  two  in- 
stances, upon  students  who  were  better  known  for 
their  pleasing  address  than  for  their  intellectuality." 

A  committee  of  the  boule  (council)  acting  with 
the  teacher  submitted  a  set  of  resolutions  to  the 
agora\ assembly,  i.  e.,  the  classj  each  day.  These 
resolutions  were  so  worded  as  to  include,  in  their 
discussion,  the  most  important  facts  of  the  day's 
lesson. 

The  order  of  business  of  the 
Order  of  business  /  «      -v  r  n 

agora  (class)  was  as  follows: 

i.  A  solemn  curse  on  traitors,  pronounced  by 
the  keryx  (herald)  ; 


*  An  Athenian  Assembly;  An  Experiment  in  History 
Teaching,  by  D.  C.  Knowlton.  School  Review,  Vol.  18,  p. 
481. 


90  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

2.  Declaration  by  the   epistates  that  the   gods1 

were  propitious; 

3.  Reading  of  the  day's  resolutions  by  the  keryx; 

4.  Inquiry  by  the  epistates  as  to  whether  the 

agora  wished  to  discuss  the  resolutions  or 
to  put  them  immediately  to  a  vote; 

5.  Discussion  of  the  resolutions  (this  constituted 

the  recitation  proper)  ; 

6.  Voting  on  the  resolutions; 

7.  Adjournment 

From  the  point  of  view  of  the  purpose  of  the 
school  the  resolutions  were,  of  course,  the  most 
The  value  of  important  part  of  the  program, 

resolutions  ^ey  dealt  with  the  subject-mat- 

ter of  the  day's  lesson.  Resolutions  skilfully  worded 
may  be  made  to  include  statements  and  inquiries 
involving  cause  and  effect  to  an  extent  that  rarely 
enters  into  the  study  of  high-school  pupils.  This 
is  a  distinct  intellectual  gain,  since  children  in  the 
school  are  prone  to  confine  themselves  to  learning 
facts/  How  far  such  resolutions  actually  do  pro- 
mote thought  will  depend  upon  the  committee  in 
charge  and  the  tactful  suggestions  of  the  teacher. 

The  most  ambitious  experiment  in  class  organi- 
zation of  which  the  writer  has  learned  is  "The 
An  experiment  in  Roman  State"  of  the  classical  de- 
teaching  Latin  partment  of  the  East  High  School 
in  Rochester,  New  York.  The  organization  as  de- 
scribed below  is  altogether  too  complex  to  be  under- 
taken at  once  in  high-school  classes.  The  "State" 
to  which  we  are  referring  was  of  three  years' 


GETTING  RESULTS  91 

growth;  "consequently,  since  it  was  not  all  put 
into  operation  at  once  it  did  not  require  so  much 
work  and  explanation  as  would  appear.  Each  year 
the  pupils  were  given  the  additional  instruction 
needed  for  understanding  what  was  to  be  developed 
during  the  year."* 

The  Roman  State  of  the  school  was  organized 
with  the  creation  of  collegia  opificum  (trade  guilds) 
Plan  of  each  with  it&pfincepS  (president), 

organization  magistri  (master-workmen)  and 

discentes  (apprentices).  The  pupils  now  learn  much 
to  their  amazement — in  view  of  the  fact  that,  next 
to  forms  and  declensions,  war  and  speeches  are  the 
chief  subjects  of  study  during  the  first  two  years 
• — that  laboring  men  organized  into  trades  unions 
were  an  important  part  of  the  Roman  population. 
"And  when  they  learn  that  the  fabri  (guild  of 
carpenters)  and  the  cornicines  (musicians'  guild) 
and  others  outdate  the  Roman  Republic  and  even 
history,  they  gain  a  new  idea  of  the  antiquity  of 
these  institutions  and  their  accompanying  problems/' 
as  well  as  of  the  Roman  Republic  itself. 

After  the  formation  of  the  collegia  each  pupil 
receives  a  Latin  name  and  is  enrolled  in  the  curia, 
tribus,  classis  and  centuria  on  the  basis,  respectively, 
of  birth,  geography,  wealth  and  age.  "Birth  is 
represented  by  scholarship  and  on  that  basis  each 
pupil  is  made  a  patrician  or  plebeian." 

*  A  Modern  Roman  State,  by  Mason  D.  Gray.  School 
Review,  Vol.  14,  pp.  296,  357. 


92  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

Naturally,  the  campaigns,  elections  and  the 
activities  of  the  "State"  and  its  officials  aroused 
great  interest  in  the  school.  As  it  was  desirable 
to  build  the  "State"  on  the  interests  of  the  pupils, 
the  ambitio  (quiet  canvassing)  and  the  professio 
(public  declaration  of  candidacy)  came  early  in  the 
organization.  The  youngsters  learned  that  the  can- 
didates never  took  the  initiative,  at  least  in  theory. 
They  never  announced  their  own  candidacy,  never 
spoke  in  their  own  behalf.  This  was  done  by  their 
neighbors,  friends  and  relatives.  These  facts  the 
pupils  find  have  been  learned  from  inscriptions — 
the  Roman  newspaper.  In  imitation  of  the  inscrip- 
tions found  on  the  walls  of  houses  and  shops  in 
Pompeii,  the  pupils  painted  some  excellent  inscrip- 
tions and  the  "variety  of  Latin  employed  would 
rival  some  of  our  prose  books.  A  favorite  mode 
of  advertising  (candidates)  was  to  parody  well- 
known  passages  of  Caesar,  Cicero  and  Vergil." 
The  following  is  a  portion  of  a  Popularis  adapta- 
tion. 

Schola  est  omnis  divisa  in  partes  tres;  quarum 
una  Populares,  alia  Equestres,  tertia  Optimates  ap- 
pellatur.  Hae  omnes  sensu,  animo,  opinione  inter 
se  differunt.  Harum  omnium  honestissimi  sunt 
Populares,  propterea  quod  a  facinore  et  stultitia 
Equestrium  et  Optimatium  longissime  absunt. 
Populares  credunt  et  pueros  et  puellas  in  guber- 
naculo  aequam  partem  habere  debere.  Itaque  omnes 
boni  cives,  et  pueri  et  guellae,  ferte  suffragia  ad 


GETTING  RESULTS  93 

Populares  et  create  Lowenthalum  et  Coddingtonam 
consules. 

"The  value  of  these  inscriptions  (written  by  the 
pupils)  can  not  be  overestimated.  To  express  natu- 
Value  of  ral  thought  arising  from  one's 

inscriptions  personal  experience,  to  further  a 

real  purpose,  by  the  composition  of  a  Latin  sen- 
tence, is  to  most  of  our  high-school  pupils  a  rare 
experience  and,  when  once  felt,  gives  them  a  new 
feeling  for  the  language.  The  question  of  Latin 
prose  is  always  with  us." 

Meanwhile  the  parties  had  been  preparing  their 
platforms  and  the  following  are  those  of  the  Popu- 
Platforms  of  lares  and  Equestres  parties.  They 

Parties  were  composed  by  fourth  year 

pupils,  the  teacher  says,  and  stand  as  they  were 
written.  They  are  interesting  specimens  of  what 
high-school  children  can  do  with  Latin  and  they 
show  how  intimate  a  part  of  the  school  life  it  may 
be  made. 

Nos  Equestres  haec,  Quirites  vobis  pollicemur! 

Primum — Summam  in  consulibus  fore  diligen- 
tiam,  summam  in  senatu  auctoritatem,  summam  in 
equitibus  Romanis  virtutem,  summam  in  omnibus 
bonis  consensionem. 

Deinde — Consules  nee  tempus  ad  festos  dies  cele- 
brandos,  nee  tempus  ad  luxuriam  nee  pilam  et  alias 
voluptates,  nee  denique  ad  quietem  animi  et  corporis 
sument  sed  videbunt  ne  quid  civitas  detrimenti 
capiat,  et  omnes  cives  diligenter  ad  summam  rem 
publicam  se  incumbant. 


94  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

Maxime — Consulibus  Boydo  et  McMatho  crean- 
dis  omnia  vetera  mala  rei  publicae  oppressa  et  vin- 
dicata  esse  et  secundas  res  et  pacem,  appropinquare, 
templum  Jani  intercludi  et  aedificia  pulcherrima  in 
Forum  ventura  et  doctrinam  et  litteras  vigentes 
videbitis. 

Deniqtie — Atque  omnia  haec  sic  administrata 
erunt  ut  Jovis  Optimi  Maximi  nutu  gesta  esse  visura 
sint  et  consules  sicut  aliquos  non  ex  hac  urbe  dilectos 
sed  de  caelo  delapsos ;  et  vos  Quirites  semper  vivere 
velitis. 

PARS  POPULARIS 

Haec  est  pars  una  in  re  publica  qtiae  est  populi 
et  populo ;  pars  sola  quae  aequam  justitiam  omnibus 
det.  Aequitati  et  justitiae  omnibus  temporibus 
stetit.  Huius  partis  fuerunt  multi  clarissimi  viri, 
quo  numero  maximi  fuerunt  Gracchi  et  Drusus  et 
Marius.  Hanc  partem  Caius  Julius  Caesar  ad  vic- 
toriam  duxit. 

Si  candidati  popularum  creabuntur,  tota  res  pub- 
lica pace  et  serenitate  fruetur,  et  omnes  cives  beati 
erunt. 

Nostri  consules  et  censores  nulla  mala  patientur, 
et  potestatem  Romae  extendent. 

Si  summum  bonum  Romae  vultis,  suffragia  ad 
hanc  partem  f  ertote. 

"Even  if  the  most  important  period  in  the  life 
of  the  'State/  which  will  always  center  about  the 
Effect  on  campaigns  and  elections,  did  for 

regular  work  a  month  cause  a  marked  loss  in 

the  amount  covered  in  the  text-book/'  continues 
the  teacher,  "I  should  maintain  that  the  exchange 
were  a  profitable  one,  and  that,  furthermore,  the 


GETTING  RESULTS  95 

amount  of  text  read,  if  that  be  made  a  criterion 
of  progress,  would  ultimately  be  greatly  increased 
by  the  greater  interest,  and,  consequently,  more 
rapid  advance.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  work  of 
my  own  classes  was  not  interrupted  at  all,  while 
the  other  Latin  instructors  estimated  the  cost  at 
from  one  to  three  chapters  of  Caesar,  one  or  two 
chapters  of  Cicero  and  two  lessons  in  the  beginning 
class."  As  an  offset  to  this  the  pupils  had  the 
deeper  knowledge  of  the  life  and  times  of  the  Ro- 
man people  which  they  gleaned  from  the  activity 
of  the  "State." 

"Two  or  three  individual  pupils  were  found  who 
permitted  their  interest  to  interfere  with  their  other 

work,    but  ...  it    was,    to   me, 
A  significant  fact     yery    refreshing    that>    amid    the 

multitudinous  and  wholly  extraneous  interests  by 
which  pupils  are  ten-day  distracted,  one  could  arise 
with  equal  spontaneity,  awakening  and  absorbing 
their  interest  to  the  same  degree,  while  at  the  same 
time  forming  an  integral  part  of  their  classical 
studies. 

"It  was  incidentally  a  proof  of  the  interest  taken 
by  the  pupils,  that  in  the  very  midst  of  the  football 
A  proof  of  season,  in  a  school  famous  for  its 

interest  football  enthusiasm,  with  a  team 

not  yet  beaten,  the  display  of  party  colors  for  the 
three  weeks  preceding  the  election  quite  eclipsed 
those  of  the  school.  One  afternoon  all  the  parties 
held  mass-meetings  simultaneously,  and  over  half 


96  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

of  the  pupils  were  in  attendance  at  one  or  another. 
That  anything  in  their  study  of  Latin  should  so 
arouse  their  interest  that  such  a  proportion  should 
voluntarily  remain  after  school  hours  to  further  its 
success"  is  a  striking  fact  in  school  life. 

The  article  from  which  these  quotations  were 
made  was  written  in  1906.  A  short  time  ago  I 

wrote    to   Mr.    Gray   to    inquire 
Faots  about  this  .      ,          ,       „_  ^        „  , 

experiment  eight      whether  the     Roman  State     had 

years  later  survived  the  eight-year  interval. 

In  a  certain  way,  its  power  to  survive  would  meas- 
ure its  educational  value.  What  follows  is  taken 
from  his  letter: 

"To  give  you  an  idea  of  the  activities  of  the 
'Roman  State'  at  the  present  time,  I  will  mention 
a  few  of  the  things  that  are  now  in  progress. 

"i.  The  regular  monthly  issue  of  the  Vox  Pop- 
uli,  the  organ  of  the  'State/  The  contents  are 
wholly  the  work  of  the  pupils.  No  instructor  cor- 
rects or  supervises  it.* 

"2.  The  presentation  of  a  little  Latin  play  called 
Troia  Capta.  About  five  hundred  pupils  attended. 
So  interested  were  they  in  trying  to  follow  the  Latin 
that  they  asked  that  it  be  repeated  immediately, 
which  was  done.  The  actors  were  chosen  from  a 
number  of  volunteer  sight-reading  clubs,  conducted 
under  the  auspices  of  the  'State/  to  which  only 

*The  copy  which  was  sent  to  the  writer  is  dated  the  Ides 
of  March  and  is  number  five  of  volumen  IV.  It  contains  six 
pages  of  Latin  prose  and  poetry  written  by  the  pupils. 


GETTING  RESULTS  97 

tfiose  of  superior  scholarship  are  eligible.  Two 
other  clubs  are  preparing  similar  plays. 

"3.  Initiation  of  freshmen.  This  ceremony  was 
conducted  a  few  months  ago.  The  pontifex  maxi- 
mus  and  one  of  the  censores  went  to  the  classes, 
accepted  each  pupil  as  a  member  of  the  'State,' 
gave  him  his  Latin  name  and  tied  his  bulla  around 
his  neck.  Everything  is  said  in  Latin,  at  first  with 
translation  and  then  without. 

"4.  The  monthly  meeting  of  the  concilium.  This 
is  a  governing  body  in  the  'State'  and  consists 
of  the  Consules,  Censores,  Pontifex  Maximus, 
Praetor  urbcmus,  Tribunus  plebis,  the  three  party 
campaign  managers  and  others  chosen  by  the  con- 
suls. At  the  last  meeting,  besides  the  routine  busi- 
ness incident  to  the  regular  activities,  a  plan  to 
start  a  Latin  museum  was  presented  by  the  chair- 
man of  a  committee  to  which  that  duty  had  been 
assigned  at  a  previous  meeting.  The  Praetor  ur- 
banus  was  directed  to  present  for  discussion  at  the 
next  meeting  a  revision  of  the  laws  and  statutes 
and  to  prepare  them  for  presentation  to  the  Comitia 
tributa,  a  general  Latin  assembly.  All  of  the  form- 
alities of  the  meeting  are  conducted  in  Latin,  but 
no  attempt  has  been  made  to  use  the  language  in 
the  general  discussion.  I  have,  however,  thought 
of  making  the  experiment. 

"5.  The  patrician  pins.  In  two  or  three  weeks 
all  of  the  pupils  and  instructors  will  vote  for  the 


98  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

pupils  who,  in  each  class,  are  deserving  of  the 
patrician  pin,  the  emblem  of  scholarship  in  Latin. 
If  the  pin  is  held  continuously  it  is  given  perma- 
nently at  graduation. 

"As  to  the  effect  of  the  'Roman  State*  on  the 
interest  of  the  pupils  there  is  no  question.  That 
this  interest  secures  a  longer  pursuit  of  the  sub- 
ject is  equally  undeniable.  I  am  also  strongly  of 
the  opinion  that  this  interest  produces  greater  ap- 
plication or  I  should  not  continue  the  'State'  another 
year.  Last  winter  several  members  of  the  class 
got  into  a  discussion  in  the  Clarion,  the  school  paper, 
as  to  the  relative  merits  of  Cicero  and  Catiline. 
The  charges,  answers  and  counter-charges,  involving 
the  whole  history  of  the  populates  party  and  the 
reforms  of  the  Gracchi,  continued  for  several  weeks, 
indicating  clearly  that  real  independent  thought  had 
resulted.  One  pupil  wrote  a  most  interesting  and 
unexpected  comparison  of  the  political  proposals  of 
63  B.  C.  and  1912  A.  D.,  comparing  the  parties 
and  platforms." 

These  are  a  few  of  the  experiments  that  are 
being  tried  for  the  purpose  of  applying  in  the 

schools  the  much  advocated  but 
The  common  fac-    ..    -  -         -          .     . 

tor  of  success  in  «ttic  practised  pedagogical  max- 
these  experiments  jm>  «one  ieams  ty,  doing/'  The 

several  plans  which  have  been  described  differ 
somewhat  in  details  but  they  agree  in  the  principle 
of  having  the  pupils,  instead  of  the  teacher,  do 
the  work.  The  success  of  the  projects  is  due  to 


GETTING  RESULTS  99 

the  motives  to  which  appeal  is  made — to  the  racial 
impulse  to  contrive,  to  plan,  in  short  to  the  instinct 
of  workmanship  in  its  broadest  sense. 

These  plans  of  organization  for  doing  the  work 
of  the  school  serve  several  purposes;  they  furnish 
Their  construct-  activities  that  satisfy  the  desire 
ive  importance  for  adventure  of  which  we  spoke 
in  the  first  chapter.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
one  of  them  successfully  competed  even  with  foot- 
ball for  enthusiastic  support  of  the  pupils.  While 
meeting  this  need  they  also  further  the  purposes 
of  the  school.  The  children  work  harder  in  their 
studies  and,  in  their  simple  way,  they  originate  and 
investigate  by  reading  more  widely  so  as  to  make 
their  personal  contribution  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
group.  The  pupils  cease  to  imitate  books  and  teacher. 
They  move  under  their  own  power.  Finally,  these 
experiments  keep  the  teachers  alive  at  the  growing 
point.  They  can  not  settle  down  into  the  ruts  of 
monotony  because  each  day  presents  new  problems 
which  the  activity  of  the  children  has  stirred  up. 


CHAPTER  IV 

PROGRESS  IN   LEARNING 

MANY  books  have  been  written  on  methods 
of  teaching,  but  comparatively  little  has  been 
said  about  methods  of  learning.     While  this  was 

quite  natural  in  view  of  our  scant 
Logical  arrange-       H 

ment  not  always  knowledge  of  child  psychology,  it 
the  pedagogical  has  had  the  unfortunate  effect  of 

overemphasizing  the  arrangement  and  form  of  les- 
son plans.  The  method  of  lesson-presentation  has 
been  settled  chiefly  by  reference  to  the  subject-mat- 
ter, and  too  often  with  inadequate  comprehension 
by  the  teacher  of  the  wider  meaning  of  the  facts 
which  it  contained.  The  logical  arrangement  of 
the  parts  of  the  topic  for  study  and  the  importance 
from  the  teacher's  view-point,  of  each  portion  of 
the  whole,  have  determined  the  lesson's  plan.  But 
in  acquiring  knowledge,  the  logical  arrangement  is 
not  always  the  pedagogical.  The  mind  often  ap- 
prehends ideas  and  things  as  wholes  and  analysis 
C9mes  later.  The  discovery  that  children  acquire 
words  and  sentences  without  the  preliminary  logical 
step  of  learning  letters  illustrates  this  principle.  No 
amount  of  logical  analysis  would  have  ever  planned 
a  lesson  in  that  way. 

English  grammar  is  another  case  in  point.    Prob- 
ably there  is  no  subject  in  the  curriculum  about 

100 


PROGRESS  IN  LEARNING 

which  there  is  more  confusion  and 
Failure  of  logical  ._     .  ,    -  - 

method  in  teach-  less  agreement.  It  is  doubtful, 
ing  grammar  ajso>  whether  any  subject  receives 

more  time  with  worse  results.  The  reason  is  that 
the  logical  method  has  been  used.  Grammar  con- 
tains the  syntax,  conjugations  and  principles  of  the 
language;  therefore  it  is  a  prerequisite  of  the  writ- 
ten use  of  that  language.  Those  who  reason  in  this 
way,  however,  forget  that  language  was  spoken  and 
written  long  before  its  grammar  was  put  down  in 
books.  Some  day  an  enterprising  schoolmaster  will 
teach  children  to  write  stories  before  they  have 
studied  grammar  and  then  we  shall  find  that  young- 
sters can  use  forms  of  expression  without  prelimi- 
nary rules  just  as  we  now  know  they  read  words  and 
sentences  before  they  have  studied  the  letters  which 
compose  them. 

We  have  been  illustrating  the  two  points  of  view 
in  determining  the  method  of  the  recitation.  In 
Laws  of  learning  teaching  reading,  the  child  him- 
a  recent  discovery  self— the  way  in  which  he  apper- 
ceives  and  assimilates  knowledge — is  the  test  of 
method,  while  in  English  grammar  the  logical  anal- 
ysis of  the  language  continues  to  determine  the  prac- 
tice of  the  schools.  But  belief  that  the  value  of 
a  method  is  measured  by  the  results  obtained  has 
been  spreading  among  teachers  lately  and  with  its 
growth  have  arisen  the  related  questions:  How  is 
knowledge  acquired?  Are  there  laws  of  learning? 
If  there  are  they  must  surely  enter  into  the  dis- 
cussion of  method,  since  in  rules  for  imparting 


102  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

knowledge  we  can  not  ignore  the  ways  in  which 
the  mind  of  the  learner  acts  when  receiving  it. 
These  questions  have  been  answered  by  recent  in- 
vestigations. There  are  laws  of  learning.  Thus 
far  only  a  few  of  the  more  evident  ones  have  been 
discovered,  but  these  few  when  understood  and  ap- 
plied must  work  great  changes  in  schoolroom  prac- 
tice. 

First  of  all  there  are  general  laws — laws  which 
are  true  of  all  learning  whatever  may  be  the  sub- 
General  laws  of  Ject  studied  or  the  age  of  the 
learning  and  learner — and,  second,  investiga- 

variations  ,.          ,  .  , .  .^  .     ,, 

tions  show  variations  within  these 

general  laws.     An  illustration  will  make  this  clear. 

The  progress  of  learning  is  always  irregular.    At 

times  the  learner  advances  steadily  for  several  days, 

T11  perhaps  even  for  a  week.     Then 

Illustrations  of  , 

irregularity  of  the    quality   of   his   work   drops 

learning  process  suddeniy>   but   it  may  rise   again 

quite  as  unexpectedly  as  it  fell.  This  irregularity 
of  progress — advance  alternating  with  inability  to 
do  the  work — is  one  of  the  general  laws  of  learn- 
ing. It  is  true  of  every  person  and  of  every  sub- 
ject of  study.  But  the  length  of  the  period  of 
advance  and  the  level  to  which  the  learner  may 
drop,  as  well  as  the  length  of  time  during  which 
he  stays  at  the  lower  stage  of  efficiency,  are  all 
variations  within  the  general  law.  In  other  words, 
if  one  hundred  per  cent,  is  perfect  work,  the  be- 
ginner may  make  fifty  per  cent,  for  the  first  three 
days  and  then  drop  to  thirty-five  per  cent.  After 


PROGRESS  IN  LEARNING 


103 


showing  grades  to  the  value  of  thirty-five  per  cent, 
for  three  days  he  suddenly  rises  to  seventy-five  per 
cent,  and  then  drops  again  to  fifty.  Again,  another 
child  in  the  same  class  may  receive  the  following 
grades  in  the  tests  which  we  have  supposed  were 
taken  by  the  first  boy :  seventy-five  per  cent.,  ninety, 
ninety,  fifty,  fifty,  forty,  seventy-five  and  sixty. 
Let  us  now  represent  the  progress  of  these  two  boys 
during  the  eight  days  by  curves,  as  the  lines  which 
show  the  daily  progress  are  called.  If  we  connect 
the  points  that  represent  each  day's  grades  by 
straight  lines,  we  have  the  following  graphic  repre- 
sentation of  the  progress  of  the  two  boys  during 
the  eight  days. 


«u 

80 
TO 

60 
13 

IK 

e 

^40 

2 

30 
80 

10 

» 

/ 

\ 

/ 

F 

rIR 

SI 

•  B 

Ctt 

f 

/ 

\ 

1 

\ 

/ 

\ 

\ 

/ 

* 

\ 

/ 

\ 

/ 

DAYS1 


104 


LEARNING  BY  DOING 


Vtnn 

90 
80 
70 

g  60 
o 

B» 
<«. 

/ 

\ 

/ 

^ 

\ 

s 

EC 

OIN 

D 

BC 

Y 

/ 

\ 

\ 

/ 

\ 

\ 

/ 

\ 

s 

\ 

I 

\ 

\ 

1 

\ 

/ 

\ 

/ 

\ 

/ 

20 
10 

AYS  ^ 

1          83           i           5           6          T           8      "    " 

The  grades  for  the  boys  on  each  of  the  eight 
days  are  given  at  the  left  of  the  curves  and  the 
Plateaus  in  learn-  days  beneath.  It  will  be  observed 
ing  process  that  both  curves,  though  they  have 

their  individual  characteristics,  agree  in  being  ir- 
regular, i.  e.,  progress  is  never  continuous,  and  they 
agree  also  in  showing  short  periods  when  the  learner 
remains  stationary.  These  stationary  periods — con- 
secutive days  during  which  the  learner  neither  ad- 
vances nor  retrogrades  noticeably — are  called  pla- 
teaus in  the  curve  of  learning. 


PROGRESS  IN  LEARNING          105 

So  far,  of  course,  we  have  said  nothing  that  is 
new  to  teachers.  Every  one  knows  that  the  prog- 
These  plateaus  ress  °f  children  in  their  studies 
inevitable  js  not  continuous.  They  do  bet- 

ter on  some  days  than  on  others.  But  the  inter- 
esting fact  in  this  connection  is  that  these  boys 
may  have  worked  just  as  hard  during  each  of  the 
days  on  which  they  made  such  different  grades  and 
the  lessons  may  have  been  equally  difficult.  The 
significance  of  these  plateaus  for  the  teacher,  and 
the  work  that  should  be  assigned  while  the  learner 
is  on  them,  will  be  discussed  in  the  following  chap- 
ter. Here  we  are  concerned  chiefly  with  the  fact 
that  plateaus  inevitably  occur  in  studying  subjects 
in  which  the  earlier  work  is  essential  for  under- 
standing what  comes  later.  This  is  the  case  with 
such  subjects  as  English  grammar,  arithmetic  and 
all  foreign  languages. 

Let  us  now  examine  the  curves  of  progress  which 
have  been  traced  from  the  daily  record  of  persons 

actually   engaged   in   pursuing   a 
Description  of  /      fs  JT 

curve  of  learning     subject    of    study.      For   several 


the  writer  has  ^  the 

daily  records  for  the  first  three 
months  of  members  of  his  class  in  psychology. 
From  these  records  a  typical  curve  of  the  progress 
of  beginners  in  that  subject  may  be  drawn.  This 
curve  is  on  the  following  page. 


io6 


LEARNING  BY  DOING 


8 


QL 


I 


S       8        i 

9NIQNV18  A1IVQ 


PROGRESS  IN  LEARNING  107 

The  curve  shows  that  during  the  first  ten  days 
« — namely,  for  the  first  five  or  six  recitations — prog- 
ress is  pretty  continuous  and  rapid.  The  reason 
for  this  is  that  the  work  consists  in  learning  a 
few  terms  and  definitions  and  in  applying  them.  This 
is  easy  to  do  because  at  the  beginning  the  complex- 
ities of  the  subject  are  carefully  avoided.  After  about 
ten  days,  however,  the  work  becomes  more  involved. 
It  is  now  necessary  to  exercise  nice  discrimination 
in  the  use  of  terms  and  those  students  who  have 
not  thoroughly  mastered  the  preliminary  work  be- 
come more  or  less  confused.  For  this  reason  their 
marks  go  down  quite  steadily.  The  level  that  they 
reach  will  depend  upon  the  accuracy  of  their  knowl- 
edge of  the  preliminary  statements  of  the  book  and 
lectures.  Some  do  not  go  so  low  as  the  line  in 
this  curve  while  others  continue  their  descent  until 
they  find  themselves  submerged  and  unable  to  re- 
main in  the  class.  A  few  drop  hardly  at  all.  Their 
progress  is  irregular,  they  go  up  and  down  accord- 
ing to  their  physical  condition  and  the  amount  of 
study  given  to  a  day's  assignment,  but  at  no  time 
do  they  go  very  low. 

In  embryology,  the  introductory  concepts  are  not 
difficult  but,  owing  to  the  simultaneous  differentia- 
Explanation  of  tion  of  different  systems  of  or- 

the  curve  for          gans,  so  many  new  facts  must  be 
embryology  mastered  that  it  is  difficult  to  keep 

all  of  the  details  in  mind  and  to  hold  them  in  their 
proper  relation.     Significant  and  secondary  points 


io8 


LEARNING  BY  DOING 


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PROGRESS  IN  LEARNING  109 

are  not  easily  organized  and  appreciated.  The  stu- 
dent can  not  see  the  woods  for  the  trees.  Further, 
in  his  microscopic  work  the  pupil  must  usually 
acquire  a  new  mental  habit — that  of  thinking  things 
in  three  dimensions  while  seeing  them  in  two  di- 
mensions under  the  microscope.  Consequently,  for 
several  weeks  everything  is  confused  and  this  con- 
fusion is  likely  to  continue  until  repetition  renders 
certain  phenomena  familiar.  After  a  period  of 
mental  digestion,  which  can  not  be  hurried,  the 
student  who  works  persistently  succeeds  in  detach- 
ing himself  from  his  subject  and  in  viewing  it  at 
arm's  length,  so  to  speak.  Then  ideas  that  pre- 
viously were  difficult  to  correlate  fall  into  place 
and  difficulties  disappear.  This  is  the  time  when 
the  visible  advance  begins.* 

It  seems  evident  that  the  rate  of  progress,  the 
number  and  length  of  plateaus,  indeed  whether  there 
Form  of  curve  de-  will  be  any  retardation  at  all,  de- 

USSfmttS  P61"3  on  the  nature  of  the  task 
of  learner  and  fitness  of  the  learner  for  the 

work.  This,  of  course,  presupposes  continuous  and 
persistent  effort,  a  condition  that  occurs  only  oc- 
casionally in  children. 

The  curve  which  follows  shows  the  progress  of 
the  writer  in  learning  to  translate  sentences  from 
An  experiment  in  the  Russian  language,  with  which 
learning  Russian  fa  was  wholly  unacquainted.  The 

*  The  writer  is  indebted  to  his  colleague,  Professor  J.  F. 
Abbott,  for  the  curve  in  embryology  and  for  the  explanation 
of  its  peculiarities. 


no 


LEARNING  BY  DOING 


preparation  for  this  experiment  consisted  in  two 
hours'  work  on  the  Russian  alphabet.  The  experi- 
ment was  then  begun.  This  consisted  of  thirty  min- 
utes' daily  study  followed  immediately  by  a  fifteen 
minutes'  test  of  reading  ability.  The  Russian  sen- 
tences in  each  lesson  were  the  test  material  for  the 
day's  reading.  The  preliminary  study  of  thirty  min- 
utes was  carried  on  in  the  manner  customary  with 
a  foreign  language.  The  time  was  divided  between 
the  vocabulary,  conjugations,  declensions  and  prac- 
tice, in  reading  review  exercises. 


DAYS  5 


*  This  curve  is  taken  from  the  author's  Mind  in  the  Mak- 
ing, by  permission  of  Charles  Scribner's  Sons. 


PROGRESS  IN  LEARNING  in 

A  part  of  the  amazing  irregularity  of  this  curve 
is  probably  due  to  the  fact  that,  since  the  work 
was  done  without  a  teacher,  there  was  no  one  to 
assist  the  learner  to  find  a  puzzling  word  or  to 
straighten  out  a  perplexing  construction.  The  oc- 
currence of  difficulties  of  this  sort  caused  the  curve 
to  drop  suddenly  and  it  rose  quite  as  quickly  when 
the  solution  was  found.  Evidently  we  have  here 
an  explanation  of  the  startling  variation  in  scholar- 
ship of  individual  pupils  which  so  often  puzzles 
teachers.  Assistance  was  not  at  hand  when  it  was 
needed  and  an  unnecessary  drop  occurred  in  the 
curve  of  progress.  We  shall  discuss  profitable  and 
unprofitable  help  in  the  following  chapter.  It  is 
sufficient  here  to  observe  the  effect  on  progress  of 
groping  one's  way  through  a  maze  of  unfamiliar 
facts  and  statements.  This  is  a  condition  not  un- 
known in  the  schools. 

Aside  from  the  striking  daily  variation  in  the 
curve  for  Russian,  these  three  curves  have  the  same 

general  peculiarities  as  the  imag- 
Similanty  in  re- 
sults of  two  ex-       ined  cases  shown  on  an  earlier 

page.  Progress  is  never  continu- 
ous, but  always  by  jumps.  There  are  days  when  the 
learner  seems  to  make  no  gain  and  then,  perhaps,  he 
leaps  forward.  He  may  now  hold  his  own  or  he  may 
drop  back  again.  But  if  he  loses  his  hold  it  is 
not  long  before  he  regains  it  and  then  he  makes 
this  higher  level  the  starting-point  for  further  ad- 
vance. This  irregularity  of  the  learning  process, 
plateaus  —  stationary;  periods  —  alternating  with 


ii2  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

progress  or  retrogression,  has  been  found  by  all 
investigators. 

What  is  the  relation  of  the  highest  and  lowest 
mark  attained  on  a  given  day  to  the  actual  ability  of 

the  learner  in  the  subject  at  which 
Relation  of  high  .  J 

score  to  learner's  he  IS  working?  Clearly  neither 
rate  of  progress  Qne  represents  his  stage  of  prog. 

ress.  Nor,  again,  is  the  pupil's  grade  half-way  be- 
tween the  two  "scores."  If  we  bar  out  chance, 
which,  of  course,  occasionally  influences  grades,  the 
highest  score  or  grade,  while  always  above  the 
learner's  ability  at  the  moment,  shows  the  di- 
rection in  which  he  is  moving  and  bears  some 
relation  to  his  rate  of  progress.  The  learner  may 
not  permanently  reach  the  level  of  his  best  grade 
on  the  following  day,  but,  if  he  works  persistently, 
he  will  shortly  approximate  it  and  make  it  his  own 
very  soon. 

Ability  to  maintain  a  grade  once  attained  is,  of 
course,  closely  connected  with  the  power  to  sustain 
Variations  in  a  maximum,  degree  of  effort,  and 

maximum  effort  the  writer's  investigations  have 
shown  that  this  is  impossible.  The  work  may  go 
so  easily  as  to  cause  the  learner  to  drop,  perhaps 
unconsciously,  into  a  state  of  relaxation  and,  again, 
the  difficulty  or  monotony  of  the  task  may  have  the 
same  effect.*  Maximum  effort,  indeed,  is  a  variable 
quantity  in  a  given  individual.  The  writer's  ex- 

*  Acquisition  of  Skill  in  Typewriting,  by  Edgar  James 
Swift,  Psychological  Bulletin,  Vol.  1,  p.  299. 


PROGRESS  IN  LEARNING  113 

periments  show  frequent  variation  in  "fitness"  for 
the  work  in  hand.  Fatigue  from  any  cause,  bad 
air  or  high  temperature  in  the  room  and  emotional 
disturbance,  such  as  excitement,  lower  the  result 
of  maximum  effort  if  not  the  effort  itself.  Indeed, 
one's  "feelings"  regarding  one's  fitness  are  not  al- 
ways reliable.  The  writer,  to  his  great  surprise, 
made  an  exceptionally  low  score  in  typewriting  on 
a  day  when  he  felt  unusually  fit.  A  most  interest- 
ing illustration  of  this  was  the  case  of  one  of  the 
participants  in  the  feat  of  tossing  three  balls  into 
the  air,  catching  each  in  turn  as  it  descended,  and 
tossing  it  up  again  before  the  others  reached  the 
hands.  He  had  made  seven  hundred  thirty  catches 
on  his  fifth  day  and  on  the  sixth  he  felt  confident 
that  he  would  reach  his  thousand  mark.  But,  after 
starting,  he  was  unable  to  control  his  muscles  and, 
instead  of  gaining  he  fell  to  four  hundred  thirty- 
one.  "What  had  been  easy  the  day  before  was 
now  done  only  with  the  greatest  effort,  and  at  the 
conclusion  of  the  afternoon's  work,  he  was  in  an 
uncontrollable  tremble."* 

The  effect  of  physical  condition  on  progress  was 
also  observed  by  Miss  Munn.f  She  found  in  her 
Some  instances  investigation  that  "one  little  girl 
of  variations  Wjtj1  a  har(j  coi(j  required  as  long 

to  finish  three  trials  as  she  had  previously  required 

*  Studies  in  the  Psychology  and  Physiology  of  Learning,  by 
Edgar  James  Swift,  American  Journal  of  Psychology,  VoL 
14,  p.  215. 

t  Archives  of  Psychology,  No.  12,  March,  1909,  p.  36. 


H4  .  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

to  complete  ten."  The  most  noticeable  disturbance 
caused  by  the  physical  condition,  she  says,  was  in 
the  nervousness  which  followed  inability  to  do  the 
work  in  quick  time.  Then,  too,  if  the  room  was 
warm  progress  was  much  slower  than  usual ;  if  too 
cold  the  same  effect  was  observed.  Fatigue,  Miss 
Munn  adds,  had  the  same  result.  "After  an  after- 
noon spent  almost  entirely  in  drawing,  the  tests 
were  taken  and  the  weariness  of  the  children  in- 
fluenced the  rate  of  progress  greatly.  Their  interest 
in  the  doing  of  the  tests  was  much  less  than  it 
previously  had  been  and  the  gains  they  made  inter- 
ested them  little.  It  was  only  with  much  coaxing 
and  encouragement  that  they  were  able  to  be  kept 
long  enough  to  finish  the  tests."  In  addition  to 
times  of  more  or  less  serious  physical  disability, 
there  are  also  "off  days"  when  one  is  not  at  his 
best.  Without  doubt  this  condition  has  its  physio- 
logical basis  but  the  causes  can  not  always  be  de- 
tected. 

A  "warming  up"  period  is  frequently  necessary. 
A  little  introspection  will  convince  adults  of  this 
"Warming  up"  in  their  own  physical  exercise  and 
Penod  mental  work.  A  tennis  player 

rarely  does  his  best  at  the  beginning  of  the  game.  It 
is  true,  the  first  ball  may  be  well  placed,  but  the  rec- 
ord is  not  maintained  until  he  has  been  playing  a 
short  time.  A  writer  of  much  experience  once  said 
that  he  always  "lost  time"  in  beginning  his  work. 
This  "warming  uf>"  when  once  accomplished  may 


PROGRESS  IN  LEARNING  115 

sometimes  be  carried  over  at  least  a  brief  period  of 
inactivity.  Indeed,  an  intermission  is  sometimes 
of  assistance,  though,  as  we  shall  find  in  the  follow- 
ing chapter,  intervening  mental  work  of  a  different 
sort  may  be  a  disturbance. 

The  question  may  be  raised,  however,  whether 
the  peculiarities  in  the  learning  curve,  which  we 

A  tud  f  th  ^ave  f°und>  characterize  all  learn- 
learning  process  in  ing.  Perhaps  school  learning  is 
a  business  house  jn  a  dags  by  jteelt  jndeedj  Qne 

sometimes  hears  remarks  to  that  effect.  In  order, 
therefore,  to  ascertain  whether  learners  under  other 
conditions  exhibit  the  same  irregularity  the  writer 
obtained  the  records  of  a  price  clerk  and  a  copy 
clerk  from  a  large  wholesale  hardware  company. 
These  records  were  taken  at  random  and  represent 
the  rate  of  progress  when  the  work  was  being 
learned.  A  brief  description  of  the  nature  of  this 
work  is,  perhaps,  desirable. 

The  price  clerk  receives  an  order  sheet,  checks 
the  selling  price  which  the  salesman  has  put  down 

Description  of  f°r  the  artides  S°Id>  lo°ks  U?  the 

methods  of  cost  and  enters  the  extension  of 

the  cost  price.  As  an  example  of 
the  number  of  a  single  article  he  may  be  obliged 
to  look  through  before  he  becomes  familiar  with 
the  price  list,  this  hardware  company  lists  over  four 
hundred  fifty  hinges.  Then,  again,  the  customer 
may  ask  for  a  brass  hinge  which,  with  this  company, 
is  listed  under  "butts."  A  beginner  must,  also,  do 


n6 


LEARNING  BY  DOING  . 


considerable  mental  or  written  reckoning.  For  ex- 
ample, one-twelfth  of  a  dozen  at  nine  dollars  is  sev- 
enty-five cents.  As  the  clerk  gains  proficiency  these 
fractional  prices  gradually  become  matters  of  mem- 
ory. Skill  in  finding  the  items  in  the  price  book  is 
also  to  be  acquired  and  the  difficulty  of  this  may  be 
appreciated  from  the  fact  that  the  price  book  of 
the  company  from  which  the  records  were  secured 


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PROGRESS  IN  LEARNING 


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contains  one  thousand  thirty-eight  pages  in  which 
are  listed  approximately  seventy-five  thousand  items. 

The  copy  clerks  copy  invoices  from  order  sheets 
which  have  been  checked  by  the  price  clerks.  They 
must  gain  sufficient  familiarity  with  the  items  to 
be  able  to  recognize  them  in  all  sorts  of  handwriting 
and  abbreviations. 

It  will  be  noticed  at  once  that  these  curves  have 


n8  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

t 

the  same  general  characteristics  as  the  curves  which 

Characteristics  of  were  shown  before-    ^regularity 

curves  of  learning  and  one  or  more  plateaus  mark 

in  class  room  and  ,«    •  -XT  ,     ,1  £ 

in  business  their    course.      Yet    those    from 

concern  whom  these  records  were  taken 

had  all  of  the  incentives  to  acquire  skill  rapidly 
which  desire  for  success  in  a  new  position  can 
bring  to  bear.  Increase  of  salary  and  promotion 
are  effective  spurs  to  effort. 

Besides  the  causes  of  irregularity  and  retardation, 
to  which  reference  has  been  made,  monotony  is 
Monotony  a  fac-  always  one  of  the  resistances  to 
tor  in  retardation  be  overcome  in  learning.  In  be- 
ginning a  new  study  or  new  work  of  any  sort  the 
novelty  awakens  interest.  At  this  stage,  also,  prog- 
ress is  relatively  rapid  because  the  learner  begins 
at  the  zero  stage  of  knowledge  in  the  subject  and 
the  preliminary  information  accumulates  quickly. 
Very  soon,  however,  this  mass  of  loosely  organized 
facts  becomes  a  source  of  confusion  and  discour- 
agement and  then  the  feeling  of  monotony  is  likely 
to  dominate.  All  investigators  of  the  learning  proc- 
ess agree  that  success  and  pleasure  accompany  each 
other.  It  is  improbable  that  one  of  these  two 
always  precedes  and  causes  the  other.  Either  one 
may  come  first ;  but  there  is  always  interaction  be- 
tween them,  each  tending  to  increase  the  other.  The 
writer  found  in  his  experiments  on  adults  that  the 
desire  to  excel  one's  own  record  as  well  as  that 
of  one's  coworkers,  was  often  an  incentive  to  better) 


PROGRESS  IN  LEARNING  119 

work  arid  that  monotony  was  relieved  at  the  same 
time.  Similar  observations  have  been  made  by 
Thorndike  and  Miss  Munn  in  experiments  with 
children.  "The  children  were  very  anxious  to  know 
the  progress  they  were  making  and  how  it  com- 
pared with  that  of  their  friends."  "Encouragement," 
Miss  Munn  says,  "did  much  in  raising  the  record 
and  the  trying  to  outdo  their  friends  held  the  inter- 
est of  the  children  and  proved  the  best  incentive 
to  doing  the  work."*  Thorndike,  in  speaking  of 
this,  says  that  "the  amount  of  improvement  in  this 
experiment"  (which  he  had  just  made)  "may  also 
add  to  our  confidence  that  the  method  of  the  prac- 
tice experiment  wherein  one  works  at  one's  limit 
and  competes  with  one's  own  past  record,  may  well 
be  made  a  feature  in  many  school  drills."! 

The  factors  which  enter  into  the  learning  process 
do  not  keep  pace  with  one  another.     Progress  is 

by  sections.    In  all  of  the  experi- 
Uneven  progress 
of  the  mental          ments  which  the  writer  has  made, 

errors  of  one  sort  persisted  after 
those  of  another  kind  had  been  largely  eliminated. 
In  other  words,  certain  factors  essential  to  success 
became  fairly  automatic  in  advance  of  others. 
Then,  perhaps,  no  progress  would  be  noticed  in  the 
first  for  a  time  and  the  backward  ones  would  de- 
velop. Evidently,  children  should  not  be  expected 
to  make  even  progress  in  all  of  the  mental  processes 


*  Archives  of  Psychology,  No.  12,  March,  1909,  p.  36. 
t  American  Journal  of  Psychology,  Vol.  21,  p.  482. 


120  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

that  make  for  proficiency  in  a  given  school  sub- 
ject. In  grammar,  for  example,  the  pupils  may  gain 
considerable  skill  in  the  use  of  adjective  phrases 
and  clauses  while  making  no  apparent  progress  in 
the  more  complex  adverbial  expressions. 

In  all  of  the  investigations  which  the  writer  has 
made  the  learners  improved  by  coming  upon  better 
Unconscious  ele~  Wa7s  °f  working  without  any 
ment  in  learning  further  conscious  selection,  at 
first,  than  the  general  effort  to  succeed.  "The  proc- 
ess is  subconscious.  The  learner  suddenly  finds 
himself  doing  something  of  which  he  has  not  be- 
fore been  aware.  The  new  acquisition  is  well  along, 
however,  before  it  is  discovered."*  This  uncon- 
scious improvement  has  since  been  verified  by  sev- 
eral investigators.  On  account  of  the  importance 
of  this  factor  in  the  learning  process  it  may  be 
well  to  quote  from  some  of  the  later  investigations. 
"A  second  significant  fact  about  learning  is  that 
all  adaptations  and  short-cuts  in  method  were  un- 
consciously made,  that  is,  fallen  into  by  the  learners 
quite  unconsciously  on  the  good  days  while  prac- 
tising under  strain.  The  learners  suddenly  noticed 
that  they  were  doing  certain  parts  of  the  work  in 
a  new  and  better  way,  then  purposely  adopted  it 
in  the  future/'t  Again,  "a  large  percentage  of  the 


*  Psychological  Bulletin,  Vol.  I,  p.  305.  See  also  Studies 
in  the  Psychology  and  Physiology  of  Learning  (Swift),  Amer- 
ican Journal  of  Psychology,  Vol.  14,  pp.  218-219. 

t  The  Psychology  of  Skill,  by  W.  F.  Book,  Bulletin  No. 
53,  University  of  Montana,  p.  95. 


PROGRESS  IN  LEARNING          1121 

fortunate  variations  came  altogether  unpremedi- 
tatedly,"  is  the  way  in  which  Ruger  phrases  it  in 
his  Psychology  of  Efficiency*  Finally,  Louise  Elli- 
son Ordahl  found,  .in  her  study  of  Consciousness 
in  Relation  to  Learning  y\  that  methods  changed  and 
improvement  appeared  without  conscious  control. 
Unconscious  modifications  were  continually  crop- 
ping out.  As  consciousness  was  more  and  more 
freed  from  details  these  modifications  were  noticed, 
practised  and  improved  upon.  "Practice  results  in 
a  standing  out  of  the  common  features  of  the  proc- 
ess; these  are  focalized  and  generalized  into  rules 
for  new  and  better  procedure,  which  immediately 
takes  place." 

Learning  always  involves  the  acquisition  of  cer- 
tain habits  which  vary  with  the  nature  of  the  thing 

Progress  through  that  is  beinS  learned-  In  manual 
elimination  of  the  feats  of  skill,  for  example,  the 

habits  are  muscular,  chiefly  arm 
and  finger  movements,  while  in  such  work  as  short- 
hand writing  and  typewriting,  both  muscular  and 
mental  habits  are  involved.  In  the  latter  instances 
the  mental  habits  vary  from  the  simple  ones  of  be- 
ginners of  focalizing  the  parts  of  each  symbol,  in 
the  one  case,  and  each  letter,  in  the  other,  to  the 
more  economical  habits  of  the  expert  who  writes 
each  symbol  or  letter  automatically  without  focal- 
izing the  elemental  parts  that  enter  into  the  sign. 

*  Archives  of  Psychology,  No.  15,  June,  1910,  p.  1. 
t  American  Journal  of  Psychology  f  Vol.  22,  p.  158. 


122  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

The  learning  process  at  the  beginning  includes 
much  that  is  useless  and  its  gradual  growth  toward 
economy  of  effort  consists  in  eliminating  these  acces- 
sories. In  learning  to  write,  for  example,  nervous 
currents  go  out  through  many  muscles  which  have 
no  place  in  writing.  The  child  thrusts  out  his 
tongue,  jerks  his  head  and  legs  and,  indeed,  squirms 
with  his  whole  body.  This  is  not  only  uneconom- 
ical from  the  standpoint  of  securing  results,  it  is 
also  fatiguing.  Learning  aims  at  economy  of  effort 
This  is  the  explanation  of  the  unconscious  adoption 
of  new  and  better  ways  of  doing  the  thing  one 
is  practising,  to  which  we  have  just  referred.  There 
is  always  a  tendency  to  shorten  the  process — to 
eliminate  what  is  unnecessary.  The  boy  who  is 
learning  to  write  finally  reaches  the  stage  where  he 
is  not  conscious  of  letters  or  even  words.  These 
have  been  cut  out  in  the  short-cut  process,  and  the 
idea  expressed  by  the  sentence  is  sufficient  to  pro- 
duce all  of  the  movements  necessary  to  write  the 
letters. 

In  learning  a  new  language  the  'declensions  and 
conjugations  are  finally  cut  out  from  the  act  of 
Higher  and  lower  translating  and  the  learner  comes 
orders  of  habits  f-o  use  nouns  ancl  verbs  correctly 
without  thinking  of  their  endings  or  forms.  Bryan 
and  Harter  have  introduced  the  terms  higher  and 
lower  orders  of  habits  to  describe  these  elemental 
and  perfected  ways  of  working,  and  the  distinction 


PROGRESS  IN  LEARNING  123 

is  a  good  one.  The  lower-order  habits  are  those 
of  attention  to  details  and  these  must  become  auto- 
matic before  the  attention  is  free  to  deal  with  the 
higher-order  which  efficiency  requires.  As  long  as 
a  learner  is  obliged  to  give  attention  to  the  form  and 
endings  of  words  he  will  find  it  difficult  to  remem- 
ber what  he  has  read  or  even  to  understand  its 
meaning.  This  is  the  reason  why  we  read  a  for- 
eign language  slowly.  Until  we  have  become  as 
proficient  in  the  language  as  we  are  in  our  own 
we  are  obliged  to  give  attention  to  forms  of  words 
and  construction  of  sentences. 

Investigations  have  shown  that  there  is  always 
a  tendency  in  beginners  to  drop  back  into  the  lower- 

_,     -  order    habits    even    after    some 

Tendency  to  re-  .  . 

turn  to  lower  facility  has  been  gained  in  the  use 

of  the  higher  habits.  The  value 
of  speed  in  preventing  this  and  placing  the  learner 
permanently  on  the  higher  level  is  in  some  dispute. 
Book  believes  in  pushing  one's  self  to  the  limit  but 
Miss  Munn*  and  Bairf  found  more  errors  with 
great  effort  at  speed.  There  is  no  question,  of 
course,  that  the  learner  should  work  vigorously,  but 
this  is  quite  different  from  straining  to  attain  the 
greatest  possible  speed.  With  children,  at  any  rate, 
it  is  doubtful  whether  continuous  strain  is  wise  on 
account  of  the  nervousness  that  accompanies  it. 

*  Loc.  dt.  t 

t  Psychological  Review,  Monograph  Supplement,  Vol.  5, 
p.  5. 


124  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

Nervousness  is  not  usually  attended  with  accuracy, 
and  accuracy  is  vital  to  the  attainment  of  efficient 
higher-order  habits. 

Let  us  now  pass  to  another  phase  of  the  psychol- 
ogy of  learning.  In  commencing  a  new  subject, 
Plateaus  as  peri-  as  English  grammar  or  Latin,  be- 
ods  of  assimilation  ginners,  during  the  first  few 
weeks,  acquire  a  mass  of  information  which  must  be 
so  completely  assimilated  that  its  use  becomes  as 
automatic  as  the  movements  of  balancing  the  body 
in  walking.  Now  this  requires  time  and,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  information  accumulates  faster 
than  it  can  be  assimilated.  During  the  time  when 
this  information  is  being  organized  into  usable 
knowledge  and  when  definitions,  rules,  principles 
and,  in  languages,  declensions  and  conjugations  are 
becoming  automatic,  the  learner  seems  to  make  no 
advance.  The  cause  of  these  stationary  periods  in 
visible  progress,  which  are  called  plateaus,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  writer,  is  the  need  of  time  for  assimi- 
lation and  automatization.*  They  are  periods  when 
marks  tell  only  a  part  of  the  truth.  Though  there 
is  no  visible  advance,  real  progress,  nevertheless,  is 
going  on  in  organizing  the  chaotic  mass  of  facts 
and  bits  of  disconnected  information  which  the 

*  See  Studies  in  the  Psychology  and  Physiology  of  Learn- 
ing.  Loc.  cit.;  The  Acquisition  of  Skill  in  Typewriting,  Psy- 
chological Bulletin,  Vol.  I,  p.  295.  Beginning  a  Language, 
(in  Studies  in  Philosophy  and  Psychology,  Carman  Commem- 
orative Volume),  and  Mind  in  the  Making  (Swift),  Chapter 
VI. 


PROGRESS  IN  LEARNING  125 

learner  has  acquired  so  that  they  may  be  used  quickly 
and  accurately. 

Miss  Munn,*  in  her  study  of  the  learning  proc- 
ess, came  to  this  same  conclusion.  "But  this  period 
Views  of  other  of  standstill  is  not  truly  one 
experimenters  of  no  gain,"  she  says  in  sum- 

ming up,  "for  after  these  resting  periods,  as 
we  may  call  them,  great  gains  are  frequently 
made  and  also  kept.  It  seems  as  though  we  might 
call  them  periods  of  assimilation,  for  the  accelera- 
tion which  follows  shows  that  some  learning  must 
have  been  going  on  or  otherwise  the  sudden  gains 
would  not  have  ensued."  Cleveland,  also,  seems  to 
have  the  same  thought  in  mind  when  he  says,  in 
his  study  of  the  Psychology  of  Chess  and  of  Learn- 
ing  to  Play  It,  that  "the  most  important  psychologi- 
cal feature  in  the  learning  of  chess  (and  it  seems 
equally  true  of  all  learning),  is  the  progressive  or- 
ganisation of  knowledge,  making  possible  the  direc- 
tion of  the  player's  attention  to  the  relations  of 
larger  and  more  complex  units.  The  organization 
involves  generalization  .  .  .  and  the  multiplica- 
tion of  associations;  it  insures  prompter  recall 
and  increased  potential  meaning  in  the  general 
concepts;  it  releases  attention  from  details  and 
favors  consequent  mental  automatisms  and  short- 
circuit  processes.  Thus  alone  is  progress  possible. 
Mental  automatisms  are  usually  perfected,  one  may 

*Loc.  cit. 


126  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

conjecture,  after  advance  to  the  next  higher  stage 
of  learning."* 

Book,  on  the  other  hand,  believes  that  plateaus 
in  the  learning  process  "represent  either  a  failure 
A  different  *n  attention  and  effort  ...  or 

explanation  a  period  during  which  attention 

and  effort  are  wrongly  applied,  where  mistakes  are 
multiplied  and  where  subsequently  the  evil  effects 
of  practice  in  error  are  slowly  overcome  and  right 
habits  of  attention  and  execution  regained." f 

Miss  Munn  has  proved  the  inadequacy  of  this 
explanation  by  showing  that  after  these  periods  of 
no  apparent  progress  "great  gains  are  frequently 
made  and  also  kept."  Why  should  the  attention 
almost  invariably  select  the  moment  for  lapsing 
when  the  learner  is  on  the  point  of  making  de- 
cided improvement?  And,  again,  why  should  the 
attention  on  suddenly  returning  to  its  duty  impart 
a  skill  greater  than  it  gave  during  its  former  period 
of  full  activity  before  the  cessation  of  progress? 
The  improvement  that  follows  the  retardation  must 
be  accounted  for,  and  the  rapid  rise  of  the  curves 
after  these  plateaus  indicates  that  some  sort  of 
mental  organization  and  automatization  has  been 
going  on  during  the  interval  of  retardation  in  visi- 
ble progress.! 

Finally,  time  is  an  important  factor  in  the  learn- 

*  American  Journal  of  Psychology,  Vol.  18,  p.  269. 
t  Loc.  cit.,  p.  157. 

T  See  also  the  writer's  Learning  to  Telegraph,  Psycholog- 
ical Bulletin,  Vol.  7,  p.  149. 


PROGRESS  IN  LEARNING  127 

ing  process.  This  is  only  another  phase  of  the  peri- 
Time  necessary  ?ds  °f  retardation  which  we  haye 
for  fixing  just  considered.  Plateaus  in 

associations  learning  are   the  mind's   protest 

against  further  cramming.  Time  is  needed  for  the 
associations — and  the  nervous  currents  underlying 
them — to  become  fixed.  We  have  the  same  fact 
illustrated  in  another  way.  Muller  and  Pilzecker 
found*  that  if  those  who  had  learned  a  given  as- 
signment turned  their  attention  to  something  else 
immediately  after  committing  the  assignment  to 
memory,  the  result  was  by  no  means  so  good  as 
when  they  rested  quietly  for  five  or  six  minutes 
without  thinking  of  anything  in  particular.  It 
should  be  emphasized,  however,  that,  during  this 
brief  intermission,  the  learners  did  not  think  about 
what  they  had  just  studied.  Further,  the  closer 
one  applies  one's  self  to  a  new  task  immediately 
after  finishing  a  piece  of  work,  the  less  of  what 
one  has  learned  will  be  remembered.  The  explan- 
ation, these  investigators  believe,  may  be  something 
like  the  following.  After  studying  a  given  assign- 
ment certain  nervous  processes  which  tend  to 
strengthen  the  associations  started  by  the  act  of 
learning,  continue  in  force  for  a  time,  but  with 
'decreasing  strength.  In  the  opinion  of  the  present 
writer,  turning  immediately  to  new  work  disturbs 
these  nervous  processes  both  by  starting  interfering 
currents  and  by  draining  off  those  which,  if  given 

*Exper\menielle  Beitrage  zur  Lehre  vom  Geddchtnis. 


128  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

time,  would  establish  the  associations  produced  in 
learning  the  assignment. 

That  nervous  processes  once  associated  through 
an  act  of  learning  do  actually  become  "set"  during 
A  memory  cessation  of  practice  has  been 

experiment  demonstrated  by  experiments  of 

the  writer  on  memory.*  These  memory  tests  were 
made  in  typewriting  and  ball-tossing.  The  first 
occurred  two  years  and  thirty-five  days  after  the 
regular  practice  on  the  typewriter  had  ended.  Dur- 
ing the  interval  the  writer  had  not  touched  any 
style  of  typewriter  until  one  week  before  the  test 
of  which  we  are  now  speaking,  when  he  wrote  a 
letter  of  about  fifty  words.  The  memory  test  in 
ball-tossing  was  taken  six  years  and  seventeen  days 
after  the  conclusion  of  a  series  of  experiments  by 
which  the  skill  was  first  acquired. 

In  order  that  the  significance  of  the  memory 
curves  may  be  clearer  the  original  curves  showing 
Explanation  of  the  progress  in  the  regular  learn- 
memory  curves  ing  practice  in  typewriting  and  in 
ball-tossing — the  one  more  than  two  years  and  the 
other  a  little  over  six  years  earlier — are  also  given. 
In  both  cases  curve  I  is  the  regular  learning  curve 
and  2  is  the  memory  curve.  As  before,  the  days 
of  practice  are  indicated  under  the  base  line  and 
the  rate  of  progress  at  the  left  of  the  curves. 

*  These  experiments  verify  earlier  ones  made  by  B.  Bour- 
don. See  L'Annee  Psychologique,  Vol.  8,  p.  327. 


PROGRESS  IN  LEARNING 


129 


A 


OF  TYPE- 


WRITING 


DAYS 


10         15         20        25         30         35         40         ^5        90 


*The  curves   for  typewriting  and  ball-tossing  are  taken 
from  Mind  in  the  Making,  by  permission  of  Charles  Scrib- 

•l^f'o        Q/-VMO 


ner's  Sons. 


130 


LEARNING  BY  DOING 


CL500 

1400 


1200 
0100 

aooo 

900 

o 

I   800 

til 

cc 

> 

^  700 

600 

I 
600 

400 
800 

soo 


MEMORY  OF 


BALL-TOSSIN 


\/ 


DAYS 


PROGRESS  IN  LEARNING  131 

As  will  be  seen  from  the  curves  in  typewriting, 

the  original  investigation  covered  a  period  of  fifty 

days,  while  in  the  memory  test 

oriSiSe°xpe0ri-       only  eleven  days  were  required  to 

mcnt  and  mem-       reach  the   degree   of   proficiency 
ory  test  ...       ,  .  ,       *       .  .     f  « 

with  which  the  original  investiga- 
tion closed.  Practice  was  omitted,  however,  on 
five  of  the  original  practice  days  and  once  during 
the  memory  test.  The  actual  number  of  days  of 
work  was,  therefore,  forty-five  in  the  former  and 
ten  in  the  latter. 

In  ball-tossing,  eleven  days  were  needed  to  re- 
gain the  skill  which,  in  the  earlier  work,  had  re- 
quired forty-two  days  of  practice.  At  the  conclu- 
sion of  this  memory  test  the  experimenter  had 
attained  a  skill  of  sixteen  hundred  catches  in  ten 
misses,  against  ten  hundred  and  fifty-one  in  the 
earlier  work.  That  he  actually  had  more  skill  than 
at  the  end  of  the  practice  of  the  first  investigation 
was  also  indicated  by  the  feeling  of  greater  ease 
in  making  the  score.* 

The  facts  in  the  psychology  of  learning  which 
we  have  been  considering  have  pedagogical  signifi- 
cance to  which  we  now  turn. 


*For  the  details  of  these  experiments  see  the  Psycholog- 
ical Bulletin,  Vol.  1,  p.  295,  and  the  American  Journal  of  Psy- 
chology, Vol.  16,  p.  131. 


CHAPTER  V 

ECONOMY  IN  LEARNING 

ONE  of  the  advantages  of  studying  the  learn* 
ing  process  we  have  found  to  be  the  shifting 
of  the  teacher's  attention  from  the  subjects  of  study 

to  the  pupils.     For  example,  the 
Advantage  to 

teacher  of  study  of  usual  method  of  determining  the 
learning  process  amount  of  work  to  be  taken  each 

day  is  to  divide,  as  equitably  as  possible,  what  must 
be  finished  in  the  term.  Studies  in  learning  have 
shown,  however,  that  there  are  days  when  children 
can  accomplish  many  times  as  much  as  on  other 
days.  Sometimes  this  is  caused  by  the  physical 
condition  of  the  children,  but,  again,  it  may  be 
the  result  of  the  excitement  of  the  day.  So  the 
teacher  now  makes  the  children  his  starting-point 
in  determining  the  amount  to  be  taEen  in  the  lesson 
and  frequently,  indeed,  in  deciding  whether  any 
studying  at  all  may  profitably  be  attempted.  An 
illustration  of  the  latter  case  is  seen  on  days  of 
football  matches  or  when  some  other  great  excite- 
ment stirs  the  school.  The  children  may,  of  course, 
be  compelled  to  mark  time  in  their  books  but  it  is 
often  a  question  whether  more  progress  would  not 
ultimately  be  made  if,  at  such  a  time,  some  other 

132 


ECONOMY  IN  LEARNING  133 

sort  of  work  were  done  witH  sufficient  interest  in 
it  to  hold  the  pupils. 

This  does  not  mean  to  change  the  order  of  the 
day  for  every  childish  whim,  but  economy  in  learn- 
ing— which   means    securing   the 

pupil     best  results  in  the  course  of  the 
in  economy  of        year — can  not  ignore  the  attitude 

of  hostility  or  friendliness  of  pu- 
pils toward  their  teachers  and  their  work ;  and  this 
attitude  is  determined  by  the  feeling  of  the  teacher 
toward  the  things  which  the  children  prize  so  highly, 
or,  rather,  by  the  feeling  which  the  children  think 
their  teachers  have.  The  latter  is  quite  different 
from  the  former,  as  every  teacher  knows  from  his 
efforts  to  be  understood.  How,  then,  are  the  chil- 
dren to  be  convinced  of  the  teacher's  friendliness? 
By  giving  the  things  which  children  take  so  seri- 
ously a  place  among  the  valued  activities  of  the 
school. 

Standing  in  the  court  of  educational  method  is 
granted  rather  grudgingly  to  children.     A  writer 

Concerning  new  in  *  recent  number  °f  the  At~ 
ideas  in  education  lantic  Monthly*  has  said  that 

"The  firm  old  belief  that  the  task  is  a  valu- 
able asset  in  education,  that  the  making  of  a 
good  job  out  of  a  given  piece  of  work  is  about 
the  highest  thing  on  earth,  has  lost  its  hold  upon 
the  world.  .  .  .  All  knowledge,  we  are  told,  can 
be  made  so  attractive — if  only  we  have  a  very  up- 

*Our  Loss  of  Nerve,  by  Agnes  Repplier,  Sept.  1913. 


i34  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

todate  teacher — that  children  will  absorb  it  with 
delight."  This  way  of  arguing  is  strikingly  sug- 
gestive of  the  Indian  device  for  frightening  an 
enemy.  Before  going  on  the  war-path,  they  painted 
themselves  in  hideous  colors  so  as  to  look  as  fierce 
as  possible.  To-day,  those  who  would  oppose  a 
new  idea  paint  it  in  gloomy  tints  and  do  not  hesi- 
tate to  distort  its  meaning  if  by  so  doing  they  can 
create  alarm  and  produce  a  literary  effect. 

There  are  only  two  possible  courses  according 
to  the  tacit  assumption  of  writers  such  as  we  have 
Two  methods  of  quoted.  If  children  are  to  make 
getting  results  a  good  job  out  of  a  given  piece 
of  work  they  must  be  told  to  do  it  and  then  be 
held  at  the  task  until  it  is  done.  The  other  alter- 
native is  to  cajole  the  youthful  tyrants  into  doing 
as  much  as  possible  and,  when  beguilement  fails, 
to  give  them  other  work  in  the  hope  of  finding 
something  that  will  satisfy  their  royal  pleasure. 
The  latter  plan,  as  we  are  led  to  think,  is  the 
method  of  the  "very  up-to-date  teacher"  and  with 
it  comes  "our  loss  of  nerve." 

Now  the  present  writer  ventures  to  assert  tfiat 
a  third  way  is  open.     First  of  all  it  should  be  re- 
membered that  work  may  be  pleas- 
A  third  method  .  «       t  t    .  T    .         - 

ant  without  being  easy.    It  is,  of 

course,  supremely  important  in  educating  children 
to  train  them  to  keep  at  a  task  until  it  is  finished. 
There  is  no  disagreement  about  this,  but  the  prob- 
lem is  how  to  accomplish  it.  The  primitive  way 


ECONOMY  IN  LEARNING  135 

was  to  order  things  done  and  to  punish  failure  and 
disobedience.  Teachers  early  adopted  this  method 
because  it  was  approved  by  tradition  and  because 
at  that  time  knowledge  of  child  psychology  was 
lacking.  Now,  however,  we  have  learned  that  chil- 
dren can  be  made  to  want  to  do  what  we  wish 
provided  we  know  their  ways  of  responding  to  given 
conditions.  There  is  no  special  virtue  in  creating 
unnecessary  friction  merely  to  make  children  work 
against  it.  Habits  of  ethical,  social  conduct  and  of 
industry  are  what  are  wanted  and  when  once  these 
habits  are  established  children  are  better  prepared 
than  before  to  resist  temptations  and  to  overcome 
obstacles.  In  practice  we  accept  this  principle  by 
establishing  public  playgrounds  to  shield  children 
from  the  temptations  of  the  streets.  If,  however, 
we  apply  here  the  criticism  of  such  writers  as  we 
have  quoted  we  are  causing  "loss  of  nerve"  by 
shielding  these  children  from  these  moral  perils 
instead  of  compelling  them  to  conquer  the  dangers. 
The  purpose  in  establishing  public  playgrounds 
is  to  create  situations  which  shall  save  children  from 

temptations   for  which  they  are 
The  alliance  be- 
tween teacher          not    ready    and,    meanwhile,    to 
and  child  tmin  them  jn  hab;ts  of  seif.con. 

trol.  Now  if  we  interpret  this  for  the  schools  it 
means  that  we  ought  to  plan  situations  which  shall 
protect  pupils  from  the  allurements  of  things  and 
actions  more  seductive  to  them  than  study,  while 
at  the  same  time  we  are  training  them  in  habits 


136  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

of  attention  and  industry.  In  this  way  they  are  gain- 
ing the  self-control  that,  later,  will  enable  them  to 
hold  their  own  against  persuasive  attractions.  This 
is  done  by  applying  the  psychology  of  the  group 
— the  gang — and  by  utilizing  the  willingness  of 
children  to  accept  responsibility  when  it  is  put  upon 
them.  To  get  children  into  the  habit  of  doing  a 
given  piece  of  work  is  what  is  wanted  and  if 
this  habit  can  be  produced  by  creating  in  them  a 
feeling  of  friendliness  to  the  school  through  recog- 
nition of  their  own  activities  and  by  helping  them 
organize  into  groups  to  bring  the  spirit  of  the  gang 
to  the  teacher's  side,  the  training  in  self-control  and 
in  industry  has  been  well  started.  There  is  infinitely 
more  moral  and  industrial  value  to  the  child  in 
eagerness  to  undertake  a  difficult  piece  of  work 
than  in  "unwilling  study,"  and  the  teacher  who  can 
produce  this  eagerness  has  succeeded  far  ahead  of 
him  who  commands  and  drives.  Would  any  one 
maintain  that  the  school  in  which  the  teacher  holds 
the  children  to  their  tasks  by  fear  of  penalties  is 
superior  to  the  one  in  which  the  pupils  study  from 
the  joy  of  contributing  something  to  a  common 
cause,  or  that  the  habits  gained  in  unwilling  study 
are  a  more  valuable  asset  than  those  acquired 
through  joy  in  work?  Is  not  one  of  the  problems 
of  the  school  to  teach  children  to  want  to  study, 
to  enjoy  history,  literature  and  science  so  that  they 
may  wish  to  pursue  each  further  when  they  have 
left  the  school? 


ECONOMY  IN  LEARNING  137 

We  have  been  trying  to  show  that  the  coopera- 
tion of  children  in  furthering  their  education  should 
be  the  aim  and  that  the  value  of  their  training 
is  greatly  enhanced  and  its  permanency  better  se- 
cured by  entering  into  an  alliance  with  their  racial 
instincts  and  native  interests.  This  includes  not 
merely  the  instinct  of  workmanship,  powerfully  en- 
trenched as  it  is  in  the  life  of  the  race,  but  also 
the  instinct  of  play,  the  moments  of  intense  enthusi- 
asm for  the  free,  wild  life  of  action  in  other  things 
than  studies.  Recognition  of  these  interests  on  the 
occasional  days  when  events  of  temporarily  supreme 
importance  bring  them  to  the  front  unites  the  in- 
terests of  teachers  and  pupils  and,  in  the  course 
of  the  year,  greatly  increases  the  efficiency  of  the 
work. 

Undivided  attention  to  the  work  in  hand  is  what 
counts  and  there  are  days  when  children  can  not 
Effect  of  mental  give  it.  To  attempt  at  such  a 
attitude  t}me  to  hold  them  to  their  books 

is  but  to  break  the  incipient  habits  of  study  which 
have  been  weeks  in  starting.  One  of  the  rules  for 
breaking  bad  habits  is  not  to  permit  a  single  fall 
from  grace.  This  is,  of  course,  impossible  with 
children,  and  teachers,  in  their  enthusiasm,  may 
place  the  pupils  in  such  conditions  that  failure  is 
practically  certain.  By  recognizing  these  facts  and 
studying  the  needs  of  the  pupils  one  may,  on  the 
other  hand,  not  only  promote  habits  of  study  but 
also  create  the  feeling  of  good  will  which  is  essential 


138  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

*t6  progress  in  the  work.  For  all  investigations 
have  shown  that  the  attitude  of  the  learner  toward 
his  task  is  vital  to  success.  This  attitude  influences 
the  height  of  the  curve.  Children  who  are  not 
.well  disposed  toward  their  teacher  and  the  school 
will  never  do  their  best.  They  will  have  their  ups 
and  downs,  just  as  do  the  others,  but  the  highest 
point  attained  will  not  be  commensurate  with  their 
abilities. 

The  experiments  given  in  the  third  chapter  are 
some  of  the  plans  which  have  been  tried  for  cre- 
Importance  of  at*ng  this  feeling  of  good  will, 
group  sentiment  Their  success  was  due  to  their 
appeal  to  the  children's  point  of  view.  They  offered 
new  activities  which  the  children  themselves  could 
manage  and  so  this  organized  pupil-work  set 
up  rival  interests,  interests  quite  as  absorbing  in 
certain  respects  as  the  outdoor  sports  and  which, 
at  the  same  time,  stimulated  progress  in  the  studies. 
In  addition,  these  methods  of  enlisting  the  help  of 
the  pupils  appeal  to  the  instinct  of  group  action 
I — the  gregariousness  of  lower  animals — and  it  is 
(always  easier  to  guide  the  interests  of  groups  of 
Children  than  to  manage  individuals.  This  is  an 
^important  fact  in  school  management.  The  teacher 
should  plan  to  produce  a  group  sentiment  of  indus- 
try and  loyalty  and  mutual  helpfulness.  But  the 
.less  he  uses  these  words  the  better.  Boys  abom- 
inate cant  and  sentimentality,  and  the  repetition  of 
platitudes  is  more  likely  to  cause  mirth  than  serious 


ECONOMY  IN  LEARNING  139 

thought.  Whether  they  do  or  do  not  will  depend 
on  whether  the  feeling,  of  which  we  have  been 
speaking,  pervades  the  school ;  and1  so,  at  all  events, 
the  development  of  a  feeling  of  good  will  through 
action  instead  of  words  is  the  first  requirement. 
Everything  that  various  writers  have  said  about 
the  "gang"  applies  here.*  The  leader  of  the  boys 

is,  of  course,  to  be  discovered  and 
Importance  of  __      . 

winning  leader  of    won.      He    is    the    one    through 

the  gang  whom  suggestions  may  be  spread 

quickly  among  the  pupils.  He  is  proud  of  his 
position  of  influence  among  his  fellows  and  this 
feeling  of  superiority  is  his  vulnerable  point.  What 
method  is  to  be  employed  in  winning  him?  Human 
nature  is  too  variable  for  specific  rules,  but  such 
boys  always  like  to  have  their  opinion  asked,  and 
if  the  teacher  can  get  them  to  do  him  a  favor 
they  are  usually  his  allies  in  the  future.  It  is 
difficult  for  any  one  who  has  helped  you  once  to 
turn  against  you.  But  the  teacher  must  always 
be  frank  and  open  in  dealing  with  the  leader,  as 
indeed  with  all  of  his  pupils.  Everything  "on  the 
square"  is  essential  to  success  in  the  schoolroom 
as  everywhere  else.  It  is  amazing  how  the  leader, 
and  through  him  the  others,  respond  to  friendly 
criticism  when  once  the ,  "gang  spirit"  has  been  run 
into  channels  for  turning  the  wheels  of  the  school 
activities.  The  feeling  of  group  solidarity  is  per- 
haps the  strongest  force  in  boys,  and  its  utilization 

*  See  also,  the  writer's  Youth  and  the  Race,  Chap.  VII. 


140  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

in  creating  the  good  feeling  which  promotes  work 
is  proof  of  teaching  ability. 

We  have  been  speaking  of  boys  because  the  prob- 
lems of  discipline  and  efficient  work  usually  center 
Comparison  of  *n  them.  Girls  are  less  aggressive 
boys  and  girls  an(j  more  imitative.  If  the  boys 
are  won  the  girls  quite  readily  adapt  themselves  to 
the  situation.  The  only  exception  is  a  girl  who 
stands  out  conspicuously  as  a  leader.  In  such  a 
case  her  support  must,  of  course,  be  gained.  The 
motives  put  before  her  will  frequently  differ  from 
those  which  are  effective  with  boys.  Probably  the 
incentives  to  action  should  be  more  personal.  With 
both  boys  and  girls  recognition  of  the  racial  crav- 
ing for  activities  which  the  children  themselves  con- 
trol, observance  of  their  desire  to  participate  at 
times  in  something  tinged  with  the  zest  of  adven- 
ture, and  thought  fulness  of  the  danger  of  monoto- 
ny, will  do  much  toward  diffusing  a  stimulating 
emotional  atmosphere  throughout  the  room. 

This  general  attitude  is  disclosed  in  what  may 
be  called  the  spirit  of  the  school  and  the  thought- 
The  spirit  of  ^  teacher  now  studies  his  chil- 

thc  school  dren  to  discover  the  effect  of 

each  environmental  factor,  and  this  includes  con- 
ditions of  the  home  as  well  as  circumstances  and 
events  in  school.  The  progress  of  learners  in  their 
studies  has  been  found  unexpectedly  sensitive  to 
external  conditions  as  well  as  to  the  physiological 
and  mental  condition  of  the  children.  Every  teacher 


ECONOMY  IN  LEARNING          r4i 

is  trying,  of  course,  to  get  results  —  to  pro'duce  such 
conditions  as  will  help  his  pupils  to  make  the  best 
progress  —  and  the  study  of  the  learning  process, 
together  with  all  of  the  conditions  which  affect  it, 
aids  him  in  this  endeavor. 

We  have  been  speaking  of  the  general  attitude 
of  pupils,  which  affects  the  learning  curve  of  the 
entire  school.  It  remains  to  show  the  influence  of 
temporary  states  of  mind  or  body  on  individuals. 

The  writer,  throughout  his  experiments,  found 
the  feelings  and  physical  condition  of  the  learners 
to  be  essential  to  progress.  They 
were  the  fundamental  require- 


and  mental  condi-  ment  of  efficiency.  Book*  says, 
tion  of  learner  .  ,  .  .  -  .  . 

concerning  this,  that  in  his  inves- 

tigations the  "correlation  between  the  learner's  gen- 
eral affective  tone  or  attitude  and  the  fluctuations 
in  attention  and  effort  was  so  close  that  if  one  had 
a  complete  and  accurate  record  of  the  changes  that 
occurred  in  the  former,  one  would  have  an  accurate 
criterion  of  (the  learner's)  progress  and  efficiency. 
The  learner's  mental  attitude  and  general  tone  of 
feeling  was  a  true  index  of  his  progress  and  ability 
to  do."  "The  feelings  and  the  failure  of  attention," 
again,  "were  clearly  joint  effects  of  certain  health 
conditions"  and  "the  influence  of  the  learner's  gen- 
eral physiological  condition  on  (feeling  and  suc- 
cess) can  hardly  be  overemphasized."  When  in 
good  physical  condition  and  working  vigorously, 

*  Loc.  tit.,  p.  149. 


142  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

the  writer's  experiments,  as  we  have  seen,  show 
that  the  learner  adopts  new  ways  and  modifies  his 
mode  of  procedure  without  knowing  that  he  is 
doing  it.  After  the  change  is  made  he  finds  that 
he  is  following  a  better  method  and  then  he  con- 
sciously approves  and  continues  it.  But  this  un- 
conscious utilization  of  better  ways  occurs  only 
when  the  learner  has  zeal  for  his  work;  and  zeal, 
though  it  may  not  always  accompany  emotional 
and  physical  good  feeling,  rarely  exists  without  it. 
These  observations  about  adults  apply  equally 
well  to  the  schoolroom.  If  a  child  is  not  physi- 
cally "fit,"  keeping  him  at  his  work  'does  little 
more  than  strengthen  habits  of  inattention  and 
nullify  previous  training  by  multiplying  errors. 
The  child  actually  loses  ground  on  account  of  the 
occurrence  of  numberless  errors  which,  as  incipient 
habits,  start  interfering  movements  or  ideas  on  fol- 
lowing days.  These  errors  are  so  many  new  re- 
sistances to  be  overcome  when  the  child  is  in  better 
trim.  Every  wrong  association  sets  up  an  inter- 
ference with  the  one  that  is  right,  and  the  more 
numerous  the  errors  the  greater  the  odds  against 
the  right  ideas  being  brought  into  the  mind  through 
associative  processes.  The  working  of  association 
is,  after  all,  not  very  different  from  that  of  mechan- 
ical forces.  Like  the  latter  the  various  nervous  cur- 
rents which  underlie  the  association  of  ideas  follow 
paths  of  least  resistance  and  it  frequently  requires 


ECONOMY  IN  LEARNING          143 

but  little  to  divert  the  course  of  a  gently  flowing 
stream.  To  be  more  specific,  we  know  how  difficult 
it  often  is  for  even  adults  to  spell  a  word  correctly 
after  hearing  several  incorrect  suggestions. 

But  there  is  still  another  way  in  which  emo- 
tional and  physical  unfitness  make  execution  bad. 
If    the    beginner    has    acquired 
some  facility  in  habits  of  a  higher 


sion  to  lower  or-  order  he  now  drops  back  into  ele- 
der  of  habits  t  r  i  o 

mental  modes  of  work.    Suppose, 

for  example,  a  pupil  in  Latin  has  acquired  some 
little  skill  in  sight  translation.  This,  of  course, 
involves  the  beginnings  of  complex  habits  which, 
at  their  best,  give  evidence  of  a  high  degree  of 
efficiency.  The  learner  now  sees  the  meaning  of 
entire  sentences  without  analyzing  their  parts  or 
thinking  in  terms  of  case  endings.  On  days  of 
physical  indisposition  he  will  be  reduced  to  the  word 
method  of  the  earlier  stage.  Or,  again,  if  a  child 
has  learned  to  work  in  mental  arithmetic  he  will 
be  compelled  at  such  a  time  to  write  out  the  solu- 
tion of  his  problems  because  he  can  not  hold  the 
figures  in  his  mind;  and  with  it  all  mistakes  will 
be  common. 

Economy  in  learning,  as  in  all  production,  in- 
volves the  quality,  quantity  and  cost  of  the  output, 
Economy  in  and  physical  or  mental  unfitness 

learning  gives  a  limited  quantity  of  infe- 

rior goods  at  a  high  cost.   The  increased  expense 


144  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

of  production  is  caused  by  the  bad  condition  of  the 
machinery  that  does  the  work.  The  problem  of 
the  teacher  here  is  much  the  same  as  that  of  a 
manager  of  a  business  house.  When  a  leakage  is 
discovered  find  the  cause  and  stop  it.  In  the  pres- 
ent instance  the  state  of  the  body  and  mind  pro- 
duces inattention,  multiplies  errors  and  reduces  the 
pupils  to  elemental  stages  of  learning.  This  reduces 
the  output  for  the  day.  In  addition,  it  injures  the 
mental  machinery  by  strengthening  habits  of  inat- 
tention, by  starting  interfering  nervous  currents,  on 
account  of  the  errors  made,  and  by  perpetuating  the 
lower-order  habits  of  work.  Recognition  of  chil- 
dren's mental  and  physical  ailments  avoids  this 
waste  and,  besides,  creates  the  general  feeling  of 
good  will  of  which  we  spoke  in  the  beginning.  In 
other  words,  it  produces  the  condition  which  experi- 
ments have  shown  to  be  necessary  for  mental  effici- 
ency. It  were  better  to  be  deceived  sometimes  than 
give  the  impression  of  unconcern  for  those  in  trou- 
ble. When,  however,  the  feeling  of  good  will  pre- 
vails, deception  is  in  less  favor.  The  children  are 
likely  to  take  care  of  that  as  we  have  found  them 
resentful  of  other  sorts  of  indolence.  Successful 
shirkers  are  popular  only  in  schools  made  up  of 
two  camps— the  pupils  and  teacher — each  in  a 
state  of  armed  truce  and  both  watchful  of  each 
other. 

This  is  not  a  plea  for  less  work  but  for  more 
efficient  use  of  time.    Greater  advantage  should  be 


ECONOMY  IN  LEARNING          145 

A  plea  for  more      taken  of  the  Periods  following  the 
efficient  use  of         "warming    up."      This    delay    in 

getting  started  is  an  unavoidable 


explanation  factor    in    beginning    the    day's 

work  in  any  subject.  It  probably  consists,  in  part, 
in  connecting  the  thoughts  of  the  previous  day 
as  far  as  they  enter  into  the  task  of  the  moment, 
and  in  part,  in  switching  nervous  currents  into  new 
channels.  There  is  a  complete  break  between  geog- 
raphy and  arithmetic.  The  learner  must,  so  to 
speak,  stop  mental  action  and  make  a  new  start, 
and  starting  always  requires  overcoming  resistance. 
Tashiro*  has  shown  that  "a  resting  nerve  gives  off 
a  definite  quantity  of  carbon  dioxide,"  that  "stimu- 
lation increases  CO2  production"  and  that  "CO2 
production  from  the  resting  nerve  proportionately 
decreases  as  irritability  diminishes.  These  facts 
prove  directly  that  the  nerve  continuously  under- 
goes chemical  changes  and  that  nervous  irritability 
is  directly  connected  with  a  chemical  phenomenon." 
Since  carbon  dioxide  is  the  result  of  oxidation, 
a  series  of  these  oxidation  phenomena  would  cause 
an  explosion  wave.  We  may  suppose  the  available 
energy  to  depend  upon  the  number  of  these  ex- 
plosion waves  per  second.  Reasoning  then  by  anal- 
ogy from  the  results  of  chemical  action  with  which 
we  are  familiar,  a  certain  number  of  explosion 
waves  must  appear  per  second  to  make  voluntary 
attention  possible,  and  the  closer  the  concentration 

*  The  American  Journal  of  Physiology,  Vol.  33,  p.  95. 


146  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

>  v 

the  greater  the  number  within  a  given  time.  A 
high  degree  of  efficiency  in  study  and  thought  will 
be  accompanied  then  by  a  correspondingly  rapid 
succession  of  explosion  waves.  By  analogy,  again, 
we  may  venture  to  say  that  the  delay  required  in 
similar  cases,  with  which  we  are  better  acquainted, 
is  alsoi  needed  here  to  produce  the  requisite  rapidity 
in  successive  explosions. 

Efficiency,  then,  would  seem  to  require  that  the 
number  of  these  delays  be  as  few  as  possible.  Why 
A  suggestion  for  should  not  the  daily  program  be 
getting  results  varied  when  the  interest  of  the 
class  suggests  the  wisdom  of  the  change?  Results 
are  wanted  and  the  time  to  mold  the  mind  and 
impress  ideas  is  when  the  enthusiasm  of  the  chil- 
dren is  at  white  heat.  Stopping  the  recitation  at 
a  vital  point  when  the  pupils  are  keen  to  follow  the 
thought  to  the  end  is  a  common  experience  with 
all  teachers ;  and  the  next  day  the  alertness  is  gone 
and  half  of  the  period  must  be  used  in  working 
up  the  interest  again,  only  to  leave  it  unsatisfied 
at  another  critical  moment. 

I  am  aware  that  continuing  the  work  at  times 
beyond  the  hour  would  disturb  the  regularity  of 
Utilization  of  the  classes  but,  again,  I  venture 
enthusiasm  to  say  that  we  are  after  results. 

The  irregularity  would  even  up  because  the  cir- 
cumstances would  not  always  require  extending  the 
period  with  the  same  class.  Besides,  this  plan  would 
stimulate  the  pugils  to  inquiry  and  reading  outside 


ECONOMY  IN  LEARNING  147 

the  school.  A  certain  point  in  the  development  of 
a  topic  must  be  reached  before  the  children  are 
anxious  to  investigate  a  little  for  themselves,  and 
dismissing  classes  by  the  clock  ignores  the  growth 
of  the  subject  under  discussion  and  the  enthusiasm 
aroused.  Critical  moments,  when  the  mental  tem- 
perature is  high,  are  not  the  times  to  dismiss  classes 
if  efficiency  is  the  aim.  When,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  interest  has  waned  or  the  children  begin  to 
show  signs  of  fatigue,  class  work  is  unprofitable. 
The  pupils  should  then  be  given  different  work  or 
progress  is  delayed  and  dislike  for  the  study  en- 
gendered. This  plan  would  also  help  to  conserve 
the  feeling  of  good  will  to  which  we  have  referred, 
because  it  would  tend  to  foster  the  feeling  of  pleas- 
ure which  we  have  found  invariably  associated  with 
effective  work.  Taking  enthusiasms  into  account 
always  promotes  pleasure  and  good  will. 

But  the  influence  of  the  emotions  on  the  learn- 
ing process  does  not  end  here.  Ruger  found*  two 
Other  hindrances  forms  of  personal  attitude — both 
to  learning  emotional — inimical  to  success  in 

a  problem  presented  for  solution.  These  are  the 
x attitude  of  feeling  that  one  knows  the  answer  and 
that  of  self-attention.  Both  of  these  emotional 
states,  as  Ruger's  investigations  show,  prevent  the 
attention  from  attacking  the  problem  directly  and 
without  prejudice.  Those  who  have  not  acquired 
the  scientific  habit  of  examining  a  problem  before 

*The  Psychology  of  Efficiency,  by  Henry  Alford  Ruger, 
"Archives  of  Psychology,  No.  15,  June,  1910,  p.  1. 


148  i   LEARNING  BY  DOING 

drawing  conclusions,  and  of  holding  these  conclu- 
sions tentatively  even  after  examination  has  sug- 
gested them,  have  yet  to  learn  the  first  principle 
of  investigation.  Freedom  of  mind  is  essential  to 
productive  study,  it  matters  not  how  elementary  the 
problem.  Take,  for  example,  the  question,  Why 
is  St.  Louis  a  large  city?  The  children  may  have 
learned  that  a  large  navigable  river  tends  to  build 
up  a  large  city.  If,  however,  they  attack  the  ques- 
tion on  that  supposition  they  will  go  far  astray,  be- 
cause at  present  the  Mississippi  is  a  comparatively 
unimportant  factor  in  the  growth  of  St.  Louis. 

Ruger  observed  that  those  with  whom  he  worked 
immediately  made  assumptions  about  the  nature  of 

the  problem  and  that  they  held 
An  experiment 

them  more  or  less  in  mind  dur- 
ing the  work,  to  the  serious  detriment  of  their 
progress.  These  assumptions,  often  accidentally 
established  in  the  mind,  became  thoroughly  en- 
trenched, Ruger  says,  without  being  subjected  to 
criticism.  His  learners  watched  for  a  cue  or  the 
first  glance  suggested  a  particular  way  of  stating 
the  problem  or  of  defining  the  plan  of  solution 
without  any  active  search  for  other  ways  of  looking 
at  the  matter  or  any  criticism  of  the  method  ac- 
cepted. "In  general,  the  solutions  were  not  the 
result  of  mere  straightaway  thinking  and  the  con- 
sequent formulation  of  a  thoroughgoing  plan  of 
action,  but  were  the  outcome  of  an  extremely  com- 


ECONOMY  IN  LEARNING  149 

plex  interrelation  of  more  or  less  random  impulses 
and  ideas." 

Children  are  prone  to  jump  at  conclusions.    They 
seize  as  the  answer  to  the  question  the  first  idea 

Importance  of          that   COmeS    tO   them    from   thdr 
encouraging  past  work.    The  teacher's  plan  of 

education  should  demand  exami- 
nation of  the  problem  before  any  conclusions  are 
drawn  and  the  children  should  be  taught  to  think 
of  possible  solutions  as  questions  for  further  ex- 
amination in  the  light  of  the  conditions  and  sug- 
gestions of  the  problem,  rather  than  as  answers 
immediately  to  be  accepted.  This  is  the  method 
of  elimination  by  which  the  possible  solutions  are 
gradually  reduced  in  number  as  one  after  another 
is  eliminated  from  consideration  until,  finally, 
only  one  or  two  remain.  This  is  thinking. 
It  requires  more  time  at  the  beginning  but 
in  the  end  it  saves  time  because  the  pupils 
learn  self-reliance  by  gaining  power  to  study  out 
solutions  for  themselves.  Besides,  the  recitation 
advances  beyond  the  guessing  game  which  chil- 
dren are  prone  to  make  it  until  they  find  that  such 
answers  will  not  be  accepted.  A  class  is  what  the 
teacher  makes  it.  The  children  adapt  themselves 
to  the  conditions  with  which  he  surrounds  them  and 
they  will  do  just  as  loose  or  accurate  thinking  as 
these  conditions  demand.  But  the  method  must 
be  used  daily  and  relentlessly.  This  continued,  se- 


150  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

vere  insistence  upon  the  scientific  method  of  thought 
in  simple  as  well  as  in  complex  problems  is  what 
Rousseau  seems  to  have  meant  when  he  said :  "May 
I  venture  to  state  here  the  greatest,  the  most  im- 
portant, the  most  useful  rule  in  all  education?  It 
is  not  to  gain  time,  but  to  lose  it." 

Some  of  the  assumptions  which  interfered  with 
the  solution  of  his  puzzle-problems  Ruger  has  said 

The  unconscious  arose  in  the  minds  of  the  learners 
factor  in  the  without  their  knowledge  and  be- 

learning  process       came  established  bef  ore  they  were 

subjected  to  criticism.  This  is  an  observation  in 
a  particular  instance  of  what  is  probably  a  general 
fact  in  learning.  Many  of  our  methods  of  secur- 
ing results  in  any  field  are  unconsciously  acquired 
even  when  we  are  under  guidance,  and  if  untutored 
practically  all  are  gained  in  this  way.  Our  study 
of  the  psychology  of  learning  has  shown  agreement 
among  investigators  on  the  unconscious  adoption 
of  short-cuts  and  other  devices  for  hastening  re- 
sults. Let  us  now  examine  the  pedagogical  signi- 
ficance of  this. 

First  of  all,  it  is  clear  that,  if  left  to  themselves, 
children  are  liable  to  acquire  uneconomical  habits 

The  right  mo-  °£  work'  ASain>  there  is  Srave 
ment  to  help  danger  of  over-help.  Indeed, 

many  are  convinced  that  to-day 
children  receive  too  much  assistance.  What  then 
is  the  solution  of  our  problem  ?  When  should  help 
be  given?  The  investigations  in  learning  have 


ECONOMY  IN  LEARNING          151 

answered  the  question.  Suggestions  are  most  valu- 
able at  the  moment  when  the  learner  has  hit  on 
a  new  way  of  meeting  a  difficulty.  If  he  is  not 
yet  aware  of  it,  i.  e.,  if  the  new  method  is  still 
in  the  unconscious  stage,  it  may  be  pointed  out  and 
its  advantages  or  disadvantages  made  clear.  A 
learner  is  not  interested  in  solving  a  difficulty  be- 
fore he  meets  it.  Why  should  he  be  when  he  does 
not  know  that  he  will  ever  encounter  it?  This 
is  human  nature,  especially  child  nature.  We  are 
not  interested  in  what  we  are  wholly  ignorant  of; 
and  a  difficulty  of  the  future  is  of  this  sort.  But 
if  children  care  to  gain  some  skill  in  what  they  are 
engaged  on,  the  moment  that  they  become  conscious 
of  an  obstacle  in  their  way  they  are  alert  to  any 
successful  plan  of  overcoming  it.  If  help  is  given 
too  soon,  the  child  goes  on  his  way  only  partially  ac- 
quainted with  the  difficulty.  Indeed,  he  may  hardly 
know  that  it  is  in  his  way.  He  has  not  yet  met 
it  or  tried  to  meet  it,  either  successfully  or  unsuc- 
cessfully. If,  on  the  other  hand,  he  actually  strug- 
gles with  the  situation,  for  at  least  a  brief  time, 
he  has  learned  to  know  it.  He  then  appreciates 
the  better  way  suggested  because  he  has  tried  his 
hand  and  only  partially  succeeded  and  he  knows 
what  the  new  method  does  and  why  it  does  it 
His  partial  failure  was  really  of  advantage  because 
he  now  learns  to  be  critical  of  plans  of  work.  The 
trial  and  error  method,  as  used  here,  is  valuable 
up  to  a  certain  point  because  partial  success  or  com- 


152  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

k 

plete  failure  confronts  the  learner  with  the  diffi- 
culty. But  he  should  be  shown  the  better  way  be- 
fore he  has  acquired  uneconomical  habits  of  ex- 
ecution. 

One  need  not  look  far  for  illustrations  of  what 
we  have  been  saying.     In  learning  to  write,  chil- 
dren unconsciously  assume  posi- 
Illustrations  .  ,.   ,     ,  ,    - 

tions  of  body,  arm  and  fingers 

which,  to  a  certain  degree,  meet  the  needs  of  the 
situation.  They  do  not  consciously  select  these  po- 
sitions and  they  do  not  subject  them  to  criticism 
before  their  defects  are  called  to  their  attention. 
In  this  particular  case  it  is  probably  of  little  im- 
portance whether  they  are  started  right  or  whether 
they  are  allowed  to  try  their  own  varied  ways  of 
doing  the  work  long  enough  to  become  conscious 
of  their  awkwardness  before  the  disadvantage  of 
these  positions  is  pointed  out.  In  arithmetic,  how- 
ever, the  wisdom  of  a  little  delay  in  suggesting 
methods  becomes  apparent.  Some  of  the  children 
at  the  beginning  will  write  everything  down  and 
use  their  fingers  in  adding.  Others  will  do  some 
of  the  simpler  processes  mentally,  putting  only  the 
results  on  paper.  The  latter  will,  of  course,  finish 
long  before  the  others.  No  one  wishes  to  do  un- 
necessary work,  and  besides,  children  are  anxious 
to  equal  or  excel  their  associates.  After  the  slower 
ones  have  discovered  that  their  methods  do  not  get 
results  is,  therefore,  the  psychological  moment  to 
show  them  the  better  way.  In  foreign  languages, 


ECONOMY  IN  LEARNING  153 

again,  the  application  of  the  principle  is  evident. 
Learners  try  to  meet  the  same  situation  in  different 
ways.  Some  thumb  their  vocabulary  for  each  word 
in  the  order  in  which  it  comes.  A  few  look  up  all 
of  the  words  in  a  paragraph  and  write  the  mean- 
ings down,  regardless  of  the  sense.  A  day  or  two 
is  enough  to  prepare  these  children  to  appreciate 
suggestions  for  a  better  plan  of  work.  Those  who 
take  the  words  in  succession  find  that  the  author 
of  their  book  did  not  think  in  the  English  order 
and  the  others  discover  to  their  surprise  that  only 
one  of  the  many  English  words  fits  the  context  or 
even  that  the  vocabulary  contains  no  equivalent  for 
the  thought.  Now  they  see  the  problem  and  their 
desire  to  hasten  the  preparation  of  their  lesson,  if 
no  higher  motive  operates,  makes  them  receptive 
to  suggestions.  Then,  when  they  are  told  that  by 
reading  a  paragraph  thoughtfully,  half  a  dozen 
times  in  the  original  language,  they  will  "feel"  the 
meaning  of  certain  words  as  well  as  their  relation 
to  one  another,  and  that  soon  they  will  find  it  un- 
necessary to  look  up  all  the  words  in  their  vocabu- 
lary, they  do  not  resist  the  suggestion  because  no 
one  wishes  to  take  unnecessary  trouble. 

Elemental  habits  must  be  mastered  first  of  all. 
Declensions,  conjugations,   rules  in  grammar  and 

tables  in  arithmetic  must  become 
Overlapping  of  . 

higher  and  lower       automatic.     But  before  this  hap- 
pens the  observant  teacher  will 
see  that  habits  of  a  higher  order  are  making  their 


154  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

appearance.  Some  of  the  children  will  "feel"  the 
meaning  and  construction  without  certainty  of  the 
reasons.  But  there  is  always  a  tendency  to  drop 
back  into  more  elemental  ways  of  working.  Chil- 
dren who  have  acquired  a  little  facility  in  reading 
sentences  in  a  foreign  language  without  consulting 
the  vocabulary  are  prone  to  reduce  their  work  to 
translating  words  instead  of  thoughts.  Care  is 
needed  here  to  keep  the  pupils  up  to  the  higher, 
order  of  habits  while  continuing  the  drill  for  mas- 
tery of  the  lower.  There  is  a  kind  of  struggle  for 
existence,  for  self-assertion,  among  habits  and  the 
economical  ones  should  be  helped  to  prevail.  Ele- 
mental habits  must  finally  be  replaced  by  habits  of 
a  higher  order  or  the  child  continues  on  a  low  level 
of  efficiency.  In  English  grammar  the  pupil  must 
learn  to  "feel"  the  relation  of  parts  of  a  thought 
to  one  another  without  picturing  words  and  dia- 
grams. For  this  reason  the  use  of  diagrams  should 
not  be  too  persistent  or  too  long  continued.  In 
Latin  and  German,  again,  a  "good  form"  of  exe- 
cution has  not  been  attained  until  the  pupil  can 
translate  simple  sentences,  after  reading  them  in 
the  original,  without  a  dictionary. 

There  are  interfering  associations  among  ideas 
just  as  there  are  interfering  movements  in  muscu- 
Encouragement  of  ^r  activity  but  these  are  grad- 
individuality  uauy  eliminated  as  efficient  asso- 

ciations become  automatized.  The  elimination  of 
associations  unprofitable  from  the  point  of  view  of 


ECONOMY  IN  LEARNING  155 

present  need  is  usually  an  unconscious  process  un- 
less an  instructor  is  at  hand  to  suggest  a  better 
way.  Teachers  should  always  be  watchful  for 
short-cuts.  The  learner  naturally  adopts  them  and 
they  should  be  encouraged.  They  represent  the 
pupil's  personal  reaction  to  the  problems.  This  is 
economy  of  method;  and  beyond  this,  the  writer 
has  already  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  there 
is  no  one  universally  efficient  way  of  approaching 
and  solving  a  problem.*  Each  child  has  his  own 
point  of  view  and  his  manner  of  approach  expresses 
his  thought  just  as  our  own  represent  ours.  As 
long  as  a  pupil  is  logical  his  method  is  as  cor- 
rect as  any  other  and  if  he  finds  a  shorter  process 
so  much  the  better.  He  should  be  praised  for  his 
clearer  vision.  Adults  are  too  prone  to  force  their 
methods  on  the  young  and  in  so  doing  they  stifle 
originality  and  crush  interest.  The  importance  of 
taking  into  account  individual  differences  in  ways 
of  thinking  has  also  been  emphasized  by  Meyer- 
hardt.f  Compelling  children  to  adopt  another 
method  than  their  own  before  they  have  thoroughly 
mastered  the  latter  starts  interfering  associations 
of  which  we  were  speaking. 

BoltonJ  found,  in  his  study  of  memory  in  school 


*  See  Mind  in  the  Making,  Chap.  III. 

^Economical  Learning,  Pedagogical  Seminary,  Vdl.  13,  p. 
145. 

$  The  Growth  of  Memory  in  School  Children,  by  T.  L. 
Bolton,  American  Journal  of  Psychology,  Vol.  4,  p.  362. 


156  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

children,  that  "ideas  previously  in  the  mind  and 
Cause  of  interfer-  association  forms  of  ideas  are 
ing  associations  factors  in  causing  the  confusion 
of  the  memory  image  and  its  final  loss."  Berg- 
strom  established  the  same  fact  in  another  way.* 
He  tested  students  in  sorting  cards,  first  according 
to  one  order  and  then  according  to  another.  The 
second  sorting,  in  a  different  order,  required  more 
time  than  the  first  and  a  greater  number  of  errors 
was  made.  Evidently  the  associations  formed  the 
first  time  interfered  with  the  rapidity  and  accuracy 
of  the  second  series.  "It  is  a  mechanical  struggle 
of  habits,"  is  the  way  in  which  Bergstrom  puts 
it.  Interference  of  associations  was  also  observed 
by  the  writer  in  his  experiments,  and  by  Book  in 
typewriting.!  The  importance  of  this  for  teachers 
is  obvious.  Incorrect  answers  establish  interfering 
associations.  Sometimes,  in  the  effort  to  show  why 
an  answer  is  wrong  it  is  emphasized  to  such  an 
extent  that  its  associative  recurrence  is  a  practical 
certainty.  Then  memory  surrounds  it  with  such 
semblance  of  truthfulness  that  its  validity  to  the 
child  is  assured.  Incorrect  English,  false  syn- 
tax intended  for  correction,  also  violate  the  prin- 
ciple that  when  children  are  getting  their  bearings 
in  the  various  subjects  of  study,  as  in  the  ele- 

*  Experiments  Upon  Physiological  Memory  by  Means  of 
the  Interference  of  Associations.    American  Journal  of  Psy- 
chology, Vol.  5,  p.  356. 
cit. 


ECONOMY  IN  LEARNING  157 

mentary  school,  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that, 
as  far  as  possible,  only  true  statements  be  made. 
When  wrong  answers  are  given  they  should  not 
be  stressed. 

In  our  study  of  progress  in  learning  we  found 
that  beginners  advance  by  sections.  Certain  habits 
Importance  of  of  execution  improve  for  a  time 
nascent  habits  more  rapidly  than  others.  Per- 
haps, indeed,  some  habits  will  not  seem  to  make 
any  progress  at  all  toward  automatization.  The 
inclination  of  the  teacher  is  to  ignore  temporarily 
the  habits  which  are  gaining  and  to  spend  all  of 
the  time  in  trying  to  bring  the  others  up  so  that 
the  pupil  may  present  an  even  front.  This  is  an 
uneconomical  procedure.  Following  nature  is  an 
old  phrase  which  has  never  had  the  same  meaning 
for  different  advocates,  but  if  this  vague  expression 
has  any  intelligible  meaning  it  is  that  the  momen- 
tary bent  of  the  child  should  be  utilized  and  pushed 
to  the  limit.  Probably  the  correct  method  is  to 
urge  the  forward  habits  to  complete  automatization 
but,  at  the  same  time,  not  wholly  to  neglect  the 
others.  The  reason  for  the  latter  action  is  that 
otherwise  the  teacher  does  not  know  when  another 
habit  is  beginning  to  grip  the  pupil  and  he  must 
be  ready  to  aid  its  growth  the  moment  it  appears. 
Besides,  moderate  drill  in  a  habit  not  yet  nascent 
is  the  incentive  for  its  start.  Without  any  stimulus 
it  would  have  no  reason  for  beginning.  A  child 


158  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

should  not  be  expected,  however,  to  present  an  even 
front  as  he  advances.  This  same  psychological 
principle  of  unevenness  in  development  is  seen  in 
the  so-called  nascent  periods  for  reading,  drawing, 
debating,  and  the  scientific  interests  of  various 
kinds.  They  come  at  different  times,  and  each, 
for  the  moment,  fills  the  child's  whole  mind.  Of 
course  an  interest  does  not  always  reveal  itself  in 
the  same  way  in  different  children.  Its  particular 
form  or,  indeed,  whether  it  shall  appear  at  all,  de- 
pends on  the  environment.  Interests  require  stim- 
uli to  draw  them  out.  Next  to  supplying  these 
incentives,  then,  the  important  thing  is  to  utilize 
nascent  interests  to  the  full  for  growth  when  they  do 
appear.  And  it  is  the  same  with  the  habits  of  execu- 
tion of  which  we  were  speaking.  Stress  to  the  ut- 
most those  that  are  in  growth  and,  meanwhile,  coax 
the  others  out  with  enticing  stimuli.  The  subtle  in- 
fluence of  the  school  environment  here  as  elsewhere 
is  the  guiding,  if  not  controlling,  force. 

Plateaus  in  the  learning  curve  are  but  another 
instance  of  the  unevenness  of  progress.    The  differ- 

Thc  plateau  as  a  ence  is  that  here  a11  Pro£ress  sto?s 
protest  against  as  far  as  the  teacher  can  observe 

or  marks  indicate.  As  has  been 
said,  however,  it  is  a  case  where  marks  do  not 
show  the  facts.  The  rapid  rise  that  follows  pla- 
teaus makes  it  clear  that  the  periods  of  apparent 
cessation  of  progress  are  very  active  moments. 


ECONOMY  IN  LEARNING  159 

The  pupil  has  been  gathering  information  and  ap- 
plying it  as  best  he  could,  but  now  he  is  overloaded 
and  the  mind  is  in  danger  of  being  clogged.  Pla- 
teaus are  the  mind's  protest  against  being  over- 
loaded. Much  of  the  pupil's  information  must  be 
so  thoroughly  assimilated  that  its  application  be- 
comes automatic,  if  the  confusion  is  to  be  clarified. 
One  need  only  think  of  the  rules  of  English  gram- 
mar with  so  many  exceptions  and  variations  that 
the  rules  almost  cease  to  exist,  and  of  the  puzzling 
complexities  of  foreign  constructions  and  idioms, 
to  realize  the  exasperating  disorder  that  fills  the 
minds  of  young  children. 

In  order  to  learn  whether  the  curve  representing 
the  progress  of  school  children  differs  essentially 

Curve  of  learning  from  that  of  older  persons,  the 
for  a  pupil  in  En-  marks  of  a  pupil  beginning  the 
glish  grammar  English  grammar  work  of  the 
seventh  grade  were  obtained.  Care  was  taken  that 
the  marks  should  be  as  accurate  as  possible  for 
the  days  indicated.  The  girl  whose  progress  is 
shown  was  of  "average"  ability.  She  made  her 
grade  each  year  but  did  no  more.  For  this  rea- 
son she  seemed  to  be  the  best  representative  of 
the  usual  run  of  school  children.  There  were  sev- 
eral better  pupils  in  the  class  whose  curve  of  prog- 
ress did  not  go  so  low  as  did  this  girl's,  and  there 
were  two  who  reached  a  lower  level  but  did  not 
rise.  They  are  the  ones  who  must  repeat  the  work. 


i6o 


LEARNING  BY  DOING 


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15 


The  curve  shows  that  this  pupil,  beginning  with 
a  grade  of  sixty,  advanced  during  the  first  three 
Description  days  to  seventy  and  then  dropped, 

of  curve  with   only  one  intervening   rise, 

to  a  grade  of  twenty.  At  that  time  steady  work 
began  to  show  results  and  her  marks  improved, 
with  occasional  recessions,  until  her  standing  was 
ninety-eight.  Her  teacher  says  that  the  child  now 
seems  to  be  permanently  somewhere  between  eighty- 


ECONOMY  IN  LEARNING          161 

five  an3  one  hundred.  The  curve  differs  in  details, 
as  those  of  individuals  always  do,  but  in  its  es- 
sential characteristics  it  is  the  same  as  the  others 
we  have  shown.  In  this,  as  in  the  other  curves, 
progress  is  discontinuous  and  there  are  days  when 
no  marked  advance  or  recession  is  made.  The  elev- 
enth and  twelfth  days  and  all  after  the  seventeenth 
illustrate  these  plateau  periods. 

The  time  finally  comes  when  the  nervous  cur- 
rents, drawn  one  way  and  another  by  conflicting 
Confusion  associated  ideas  and  blocked  by 

of  ideas  interferences  set  up  by  the  unor- 

ganized mass  of  thoughts,  refuse  to  run  true.  The 
conflicting  ideas  and  confused  thoughts  include 
what  the  children  have  learned  and  have  been  told 
about  the  innumerable  exceptions,  variations  and 
modifications  of  declensions,  conjugations,  rules, 
and  idioms  that  come  under  no  rule.  All  of  them 
have  their  associations,  some  in  agreement  and  some 
in  apparent  disagreement  with  one  another.  And 
this  tangle  of  disagreement  must  be  straightened 
out  and  everything  brought  into  order.  The  long 
drop  of  the  curve  of  progress  of  the  grammar- 
school  girl,  given  before,  represents  just  such  a 
condition  of  mental  confusion.  Work  and  time, 
the  latter  no  less  than  the  former,  are  needed  to 
bring  order  out  of  the  chaotic  accumulation  of 
facts. 

Clearly  this  is  no  time  for  tests  or  examinations. 
Marks  have  no  grading-value.  Their  use  just  now 


l62  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

*-*          -A,.- '••;...  * 

The  use  of  tests  *s  to  guide  the  teacher  in  her  se- 
at this  time  lection  of  topics  for  drill  and  for 
further  explanation,  and  to  show  the  progress  of 
the  automatization  of  forms  and  rules  and  prin- 
ciples. Tests  may  be  given  but  they  should  be  re- 
garded as  merely  written  exercises  and  after  the 
papers  have  been  corrected  and  returned  the  marks 
should  be  discarded.  The  reason  for  returning  the 
papers  to  the  class  is  that  competition  with  one's 
own  record  and  with  one's  fellows  is  an  incentive 
for  better  work.  Several  writers,  as  we  have  seen, 
have  observed  this  in  their  investigations. 

Plateaus  in  the  learning  process,  of  which  we 
have  been  speaking,  are  like  the  block  signals  on 
Plateaus  a  signal  a,  railroad.  They  give  warning 
for  special  drill  of  the  danger  of  going  ahead. 

Now  is  the  time  for  renewed  drill  on  everything 
that  relates  to  the  work.  In  arithmetic,  the  teacher 
should  return  to  the  place  at  which  the  clear  ac- 
curate knowledge  of  the  children  ends  and  make 
that  the  starting-point  for  vigorous  and  intelligent 
drill.  In  English  grammar,  the  rules  should  be 
reviewed,  exceptions  and  modifications  made  clear, 
but  always  with  endless  drill,  and  with  innumerable 
examples,  each  pointed  at  a  principle.  And,  again, 
in  Latin,  declensions,  conjugations,  rules  with  illus- 
trative examples,  and  idiomatic  sentences  committed 
to  memory,  all  must  be  revived  with  ceaseless  drill. 
Naturally,  with  such  continuous,  relentless  drill 
there  is  grave  danger  of  monotony,  and  monotony 


ECONOMY  IN  LEARNING          163 

Effect  of  monotony  has  been  found  a  potent  influence 
on  plateaus  jn  prolonging  plateaus.     But  as 

long  as  delay  in  progress  is  caused  chiefly  by  dis- 
order in  the  mind,  the  treatment  is  clearly  indi- 
cated. The  disorderly  ideas  must  be  brought  into 
subordination.  Economic  habits  of  execution  which 
constitute  "good  form"  must  be  perfected.  Declen- 
sions, conjugations,  rules  and  principles  in  mathe- 
matics, languages  and  sciences  must  be  so  com- 
pletely assimilated  that  their  appearance  at  the  right 
moment  is  as  automatic  as  the  boy's  jump  at  sight 
of  an  object  falling  toward  him  through  the  air. 
This  leaves  the  attention  free  for  larger  questions, 
for  the  higher  order  of  habits  to  which  reference 
was  made  in  the  chapter  on  progress  in  learning. 
The  situation  is  wholly  altered  if  monotony  ob- 
tains a  hold.  The  delay  in  progress  may  then  be  ab~ 
Suggestions  to  normally  prolonged.  The  teacher 
offset  monotony  should  prevent  this  at  all  hazard. 
It  is  the  opportunity  to  use  her  ingenuity.  While 
there  should  be  no  advance,  the  work  should  be 
entirely  new.  Fresh  problems  in  arithmetic  should 
be  gathered  from  many  books  and,  after  being 
solved,  they  may  be  compared  with  others  with 
which  the  children  are  familiar  to  "set"  the  prin- 
ciple; and  so  with  English  grammar.  In  German 
and  Latin  new  stories  should  be  read  but  always 
with  the  drill  upon  the  facts  and  principles  con- 
cerning which  the  pupils  are  confused.  This  va- 
riety of  material,  besides  driving  away  monotony, 


i64  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

makes  the  children  flexible  in  thought.  They  see 
the  same  principle  applied  in  cases  that  are  alike, 
yet  different,  and  so  they  learn  to  compare  and 
judge  and  think,  instead  of  forming  mechanical 
habits  of  thought  which  permit  no  variation.  This 
mental  flexibility  is  what  I  understand  Rousseau 
to  have  meant  when  he  said  in  his  paradoxical  way, 
"The  only  habit  a  child  should  be  allowed  to  form 
is  to  contract  no  habits  whatever/' 

Finally,  time  is  needed  in  the  learning  process. 
This  is  but  another  point  of  view  of  the  subcon- 
scious   utilization    of    experience 
Time  a  factor  T          . 

in  growth  of  and  Of  plateaus.     Learning  is  * 

experience  gradual  growth  toward  economy 

of  effort  in  accomplishing  that  upon  which  one  is 
engaged.  Let  us  see  how  this  growth  proceeds, 
Every  task,  whether  mental  or  manual,  is  a  com, 
plex  of  lesser  achievements  which  contribute  to  the 
whole.  And  it  is  these  contributory  factors — the 
problems  or  situations  which  must  be  met  at  each 
moment  in  the  progress  of  the  work — that  serve 
as  stimuli  for  appropriate  muscular  movements  or 
thoughts,  according  as  manual  dexterity  or  mental 
skill  is  required.  At  first  the  learner  inadequately 
meets  the  situation.  As  we  have  seen,  the  method 
is  that  of  trial  and  error.  By  degrees  the  useless 
and  less  effective  reactions  are  eliminated  and  some 
measure  of  success  is  achieved.  Many  of  the  bet- 
ter methods  are  acquired  unconsciously,  as  we  have 
found,  and  are  well  along  in  use  before  the  learner 


ECONOMY  IN  LEARNING  165 

notes  them.  Now  all  this  growth  in  economy  of 
effort  requires  time  because  the  associative  recur- 
rence of  a  definite  order  of  nervous  discharges  must 
be  established.  Hastening  progress  by  showing  the 
learner  how  to  do  the  work  ignores  the  laws  of 
growth  and  reduces  him  to  the  stage  of  imitation. 
It  stifles  the  desire  to  initiate  action  which  is  the 
beginning  of  originality.  Learning  by  imitation 
subverts  learning  by  doing.  Suggestions  too  long 
deferred,  on  the  other  hand,  give  time  for  bad 
habits  of  execution  to  become  fixed.  The  success- 
ful teacher  watches  for  the  moment  when  the  pupil, 
conscious  that  his  method  is  not  securing  the  best 
results,  looks  for  help.  Ability  to  know  the  eco- 
nomic moment  distinguishes  superior  teaching. 


CHAPTER  VI 

HABIT  IN  LEARNING  AND  ACHIEVEMENT 

IT  was  Walter  Pater,  I  think,  who  said  that  form- 
ing habits  is  failure  in  life;  "for,  after  all,"  he 
continued,  "habit  is  relative  to  a  stereotyped  world, 
and  meantime  it  is  only  the  roughness  of  the  eye  that 
makes  any  two  persons,  things,  or  situations,  seem 
alike." 

Habits  of  thought  start  in  our  environment.  Men 
are  born  into  certain  classifications  of  ideas.  They 
Our  inherited  are  orthodox  or  unorthodox,  con- 

view-point  servative  or  radical   from  birth. 

Of  course,  I  do  not  mean  that  these  ideas  are  innate, 
though  they  might  almost  as  well  be,  for  the  very 
atmosphere  which  the  child  breathes  is  surcharged 
with  them.  Naturally,  these  points  of  view  become 
the  customary  ones  and  the  ideas  within  the  field 
of  the  observer's  vision  come  to  have  definite,  fixed 
relations  to  one  another.  It  is  as  if  a  series  of  moun- 
tain peaks  were  always  seen  from  a  river  seat,  with 
no  alteration  in  the  relative  positions  which  they 
hold.  Take  those  who  have  had  only  this  view  out 
into  a  meadow  with  all  the  peaks  in  sight  and  they 
can  not  discover  an  intelligible  arrangement  in  the 

166 


HABIT  IN  ACHIEVEMENT          167 

panorama.  They  do  not  even  recognize  the  moun- 
tains so  often  seen  from  the  river  seat  because  the 
new  view-point  alters  the  relative  arrangement  in 
the  picture. 

Ideas  which  have  been  classified  iand  tied  up  in 
bundles  properly  labeled  give  one  a  comfortable  feel- 
Futility  of  'inS  °f  mental  security.  All  that  is 
classification  necessary  then  in  judging  an  act 
is  to  test  it  by  the  classification;  and  when  once  it 
can  be  brought  under  one  of  the  categories  of  the 
system  the  whole  matter  seems  quite  clear.  This 
method  is  convenient  and  easy.  Its  only  fault  is  that 
it  does  not  lead  one  anywhere.  A  conspicuous  illus- 
tration of  its  failure  was  the  comment  on  General 
Nogi's  suicide.  Obviously,  knowledge  of  the  reli- 
gion and  the  philosophy  of  Bushido  was  needed  to 
understand  the  act.  Anglo-Saxon  classification  of 
ideas  is  inadequate  for  its  interpretation. 

Ideas  are  like  planets  in  being  deflected  from  a 
straight  course  by  all  others  within  their  range  of 
Inadequacy  of  influence.  The  difference  is  that 
settled  ideas  with  jdeas  the  amount  of  deflec- 

tion is  not  easy  to  calculate.  The  significance  of 
thoughts  can  not  be  determined  with  mathematical 
accuracy  and  it  is  just  this  difficulty  that  makes  a 
mobile  state  of  mind  unpleasant.  Constant  rear- 
rangement of  opinions  and  beliefs  to  meet  the  re- 
quirements of  new  facts  would  keep  one  thinking, 
and  thinking  is  an  effort.  At  any  rate,  one  likes  to 
feel  at  times  that  certain  questions  are  answered. 


168  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

To  finish  one  thing  after  another  and  pack  them 
away  seems  to  measure  progress.  "He  settles  ques- 
tions and  you  can  put  it  down  in  your  note-book," 
said  a  college  student  not  long  ago  in  praise  of  an 
instructor.  When  one  wishes  to  use  these  "settled" 
opinions  one  pulls  out  a  package  of  ideas  as  incon- 
gruous at  the  moment  as  were  those  of  Rip  Van 
Winkle  when  he  awoke.  It  is  like  tying  up  a  bundle 
of  clothes  for  future  use  only  to  find  later  when  they 
are  undone  that  everything  is  out  of  date. 

A  great  deal  has  been  written  about  the  impor- 
tance of  conserving  ideas.  Conservatism  is  society's 
Conservatism  safeguard,  we  are  told.  Were  it 

and  habit  not  for  habit  the  classes  would  be 

in  endless  strife,  but  men  grow  accustomed  to  their 
lot  and  find  things  quite  endurable.  All  this,  of 
course,  is  true.  Conservatism,  however,  which  is 
only  another  name  for  certain  kinds  of  habits,  is  so 
firmly  "set"  in  man  as  to  require  no  effort  to  keep  it 
going.  The  difficulty  is  to  break  away  from  habits 
of  thought  and  action,  and  it  is  time  to  spread  the 
gospel  of  variation  to  encourage  independent  think- 
ing. 

"The  peculiarity  of  arrested  civilization,"  says 
Walter  Bagehot,  "is  to  kill  out  varieties  at  birth,  that 
is,  in  early  childhood,  and  before  they  can  develop." 
Altering  even  one  belief  requires  a  reorganization  of 
many  ideas  because  of  their  dependence,  one  upon 
another.  This  would  disturb  the  system  of  thoughts 
which  has  been  brought,  largely  unconsciously,  it  is 


HABIT  IN  ACHIEVEMENT          169 

true,  into  such  pleasant  harmony.  For  this  reason 
it  is  so  hard  for  man  to  change  his  party — he  rarely 
does  unless  convinced  that  his  system  of  ideas 
will  be  less  disturbed  by  changing  than  by  remain- 
ing— or  for  anti-vivisectionists  to  believe  that  it  is 
better  for  surgeons  to  experiment  on  animals  than 
on  man.  "Hardly  any  of  us/'  said  William  James, 
"can  make  new  heads  (for  ideas)  easily  when  fresh 
experiences  come.  Most  of  us  grow  more  and  more 
enslaved  to  the  stock  conceptions  with  which  we 
have  once  become  familiar,  and  less  and  less  capable 
of  assimilating  impressions  in  any  but  the  old  ways. 
Old-fogyism,  in  short,  is  the  inevitable  terminus  to 
which  life  sweeps  us  on."* 

The  persistence  of  the  argument  for  conservatism 
is  due  to  the  desire  for  self-justification  of  those 
Conservatism  illus-  who  do  not  wish  to  change ;  and 
trated  by  history  there  js  just  enough  truth  in  what 

is  said  to  make  the  argument  sound  plausible.  As 
long  as  discussion  deals  with  the  outcome  of  condi- 
tions not  yet  realized,  the  conservatives  have  the 
advantage  in  the  argument  because  no  one  can  dem- 
onstrate what  the  future  will  bring  forth.  But  when 
we  look  back  over  history  we  have  a  clear  view  of 
what  it  means.  The  pathway  of  progress  has  been 
blocked  by  the  neglect  of  men  who  made  the  sciences 
upon  which  our  comfort,  health  and  lives  depend, 
and  their  crime  consisted  in  resisting  the  conserv- 
atism of  their  day.  Before  Harvey  published  his 
*  James'  Psychology,  p.  328. 


1 70  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

bode  on  the  Motion  md  Uses  of  the  Heart  and 
Arteries,  in  which  he  demonstrated  the  circulation 
of  the  blood,  he  enjoyed  a  large  practice,  for  he  was 
a  skilful  surgeon  of  reputation.  But  after  the  appear- 
ance of  the  book  "he  fell  mightily  in  his  practice; 
'twas  believed  by  the  vulgar  that  he  wascrackbrained 
and  all  the  physym?*s  wtrc  af^inst  h^n-  Harvey 
himself  says  regarding  the  reception  of  his  dis- 
covery, "These  views  as  usual  pleased  some  more, 
some  less;  some  chid  and  calumniated  me,  and  laid 
it  to  me  as  a  crime  that  I  had  dared  to  depart  from 
the  precepts  and  opinions  of  all  anatomists.  I  trem- 
ble lest  I  have  mankind  at  large  for  my  enemies,  so 
nrnch  doth  wont  and  custom  become  a  second 
nature."* 

Conservatism,  however,  is  suited  to  a  fixed  rather 
than  a  changing  condition  of  society.  It  suggests 
no  {dan  for  meeting  the  new  con- 
ditions that  arise.  One  of  the 
purposes  in  the  education  of  chil- 
dren, pei  haps  the  chief  purpose, 
is  to  train  them  to  act  appropriately — to  fit  their 
reactions  to  events  and  situations.  The  aim  of 
the  education  of  young  animals  is  the  same,  but 
their  limitations  are  much  narrower.  Primarily, 
the  nervous  system  consists  of  paths  joining 
sense  organs  with  muscles.  The  connection  be- 
tween sensory  and  motor  nerves  is  made  through 

*Sce  The  Mam  Who  Discovered  the  Circulation  of  tie 
Blood,  by  Dr.  D.  F.  Harris.  Popular  Science  Monthly.  VoL 
8t  pi  459. 


HABIT  IN  ACHIEVEMENT          171 

switching  stations,  and  the  adaptability  of  reactions 
to  events  in  the  external  world  depends  upon  what 
transpires  in  the  nervous  Centers  between  the  arri- 
val of  the  incoming  impulse  at  these  switching 
stations  and  the  departure  of  the  outgoing  cur- 
rent that  produces  the  reaction.  In  the  lower  ani- 
mals little  is  likely  to  intervene  because  their  reac- 
tions are  largely  determined  at  birth  by  the  organi- 
zation of  their  nervous  system.  A  dog  never  refrains 
from  eating  what  is  put  before  him  because  it  caused 
indigestion  a  few  days  earlier.  Indeed,  it  is  doubt- 
ful whether  he  even  recalls  a  single  occurrence  of 
that  sort  when  once  the  discomfort  has  passed.  To 
be  sure,  animals  learn  to  avoid  what  causes  pain 
but  the  new  reaction  must  be  forced  into  the  nervous 
system  by  repeated  experiences. 

We  see  here  the  differences  between  man's  reac- 
tions and  those  of  the  lower  animals.  Man's  nervous 
system  permits  a  longer  delay  between  the  arrival 
of  the  incoming  impulse  and  the  departure  of  the 
outgoing  and  with  this  delay  comes  an  increase  in 
the  number  of  possible  reactions.  Many  motor 
paths  connect  with  the  switching  station  and  the 
intervening  time  gives  opportunity  for  inhibitory 
and  reenf orcing  currents  to  become  effective.  Ideas 
recalling  the  unfortunate  outcome  of  a  former  act 
may  be  associated  with  one  movement  and  so  inhibit 
it.  Or,  again,  thoughts  of  the  value  of  time  for  de- 
liberation, the  better  to  judge  the  situation,  may  pre- 
vent immediate  action. 


172  '-LEARNING  BY  DOING 

To  the  lower  animals  superficially  similar  situa- 
tions are  accepted  as  identical  in  all  respects.    Fishes 

Discrimination  a  do  not  examine  a  worm  before 
test  of  mental  snapping  it  to  ascertain  whether  it 
development  .  .  1  -  -  ,  ^r^i 

is  impaled  on  a  hook.    With  some 

fishes  and  in  animals  above  them  there  is  sometimes 
delay,  but  in  all  such  cases  the  caution,  if  it  is  not  in- 
stinctive, has  resulted  from  repeated  discomfort. 
Now  the  extent  to  which  man  repeats  the  same  re- 
action to  situations  that  appear  superficially  identical 
measures  his  approach  to  the  condition  of  the  lower 
animals.  The  same  mischievous  act  of  children,  for 
example,  with  its  great  variety  of  possible  causes,  as 
stern  or  even  cruel  treatment  at  home,  time  to  waste 
after  learning  the  lesson,  desire  for  fun,  revenge, 
etc.,  may  always  bring  the  same  punishment.  In 
this  sort  of  action  little  or  nothing  occurs  in  the 
teacher's  mind  between  the  arrival  of  the  incoming 
and  the  departure  of  the  outgoing  impulse.  The  in- 
coming nerve  current  on  its  arrival  at  the  switching 
station  immediately  runs  out  to  a  muscle  through 
the  nerve  path  which  it  has  always  taken.  This  is 
habit.  The  difference  between  man's  habits  and 
those  of  the  lower  animals  is  that  the  latter,  except 
as  they  have  been  changed  by  rigorous  training,  are 
the  habits  of  the  species,  while  man's  are  acquired 
individually. 

Human  evolution,  whatever  else  it  may  be,  is  evi- 
dently growth  away  from  fixed  reactions;   it  is 


HABIT  IN  ACHIEVEMENT          173 

learning  to  alter  responses  to  fit 
An  illustration  .  *  .  .  , 

the  niceties  of  situations  to  which 

the  individual  is  reacting.  But  this  requires  greater 
delicacy  in  interpreting  situations.  Conditions  which 
the  unintelligent  would  group  together  in  their  class- 
ification, with  one  reaction  for  each  and  all,  are  now 
distinguished  from  one  another  because  their  differ- 
ences are  recognized.  An  illustrative  incident  was 
recently  reported  to  the  writer.  A  boy  came  to 
school  "armed  to  the  teeth"  with  wooden  knives  and 
pistols.  The  teacher  waited  to  see  what  would 
happen  and  soon  found  out.  A  girl  in  front  of  him 
was  shot  and  those  who  passed  his  seat  were 
stabbed.  Of  course  there  was  a  good  deal  of  excite- 
ment, a  part  of  which  was  natural  and  another  part 
added  by  the  children  to  show  their  appreciation. 
Now  the  conventional  reaction  was  punishment,  but 
the  teacher  had  learned  the  wisdom  of  distinguish- 
ing between  situations.  She  had  escaped  from  ped- 
agogical habits.  So  she  asked  the  boy  why  he  did  it. 
The  answer  was  immediate  and  frank.  He  had 
been  reading  about  cowboys  and  wanted  to  become 
one. 

"But  do  you  know/'  continued  the  teacher,  "that 
real  cowboys  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  you 
except  to  drive  you  away  from  their  ranches  ?" 

This  amazed  the  boy  and  he  asked  why. 

"Because  you  are  not  courteous  to  girls,"  replied 
the  teacher. 


174  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

This  unexpected  bit  of  information  gave  a  new 
point  of  view  and  the  aspiring  hero  dropped  several 
points  in  the  estimation  of  his  fellows.  The  teacher 
then  spent  two  or  three  minutes  in  telling  the  chil- 
dren something  about  the  good  qualities  of  cowboys. 
After  that  the  subject  and  the  knives  were  laid  aside 
until  close  of  school.  When,  at  dismissal,  the  boy 
passed  her  desk  the  teacher  asked  him  whether  he 
would  like  to  read  about  cowboys.  He  was  eager 
for  the  books  and  so,  on  the  following  day,  she 
brought  him  several  of  the  better  sort.  This  marked 
the  beginning  of  his  interest  in  reading  and  in  his 
teacher. 

Skill  in  the  interpretation  of  situations  is  largely 
a  matter  of  experience ;  but  experience  is  not  gained 

Experience  as  bY  merel?  livin§  through  a  series 

interpretation  pf  events.    The  question  is,  what 

of  events  -       -          -         ,  .     x1        .> 

meaning  has  been  found  in  them  ? 

Things  occur  in  apparent  isolation  or  in  a  setting  of 
other  things  and  happenings,  some  of  which  are  im- 
portant for  their  meaning  and  others  are  without 
significance.  Interpretation  consists  in  finding  the 
relation  of  these  things  or  occurrences  to  larger, 
more  comprehensive  groups  of  events  or  ideas. 
When  fossils  were  first  discovered  they  were  just  so 
many  strange  objects  to  be  wondered  at  or  ac- 
counted for.  They  were  explained  in  several  ways, 
as  patterns  of  animals  which  God  had  made  and 
then,  dissatisfied,  had  thrown  away.  But  Darwin's 


HABIT  IN  ACHIEVEMENT          175 

principle  of  descent  with  variation  brought  them  un- 
der a  general  law.  It  revealed  their  meaning.  Gain- 
ing experience  implies,  among  other  things,  break- 
ing habits  of  thought,  getting  away  from  traditional 
or  environmental  classifications  of  ideas.  As  long, 
however,  as  the  nerve  current  runs  out  through 
habitual  paths  the  customary  associations  arise,  and 
new  relations — the  basis  of  meaning — are  not  dis- 
covered. The  explanation  of  fossils  as  God's  un- 
used models  of  animals  followed  the  conventional 
classification  of  causes  of  things  and  events.  If,  as 
we  have  seen,  getting  experience  involves  finding 
new  meaning  in  objects  or  situations,  then  following 
habits  of  thought  and  action  fails  to  give  experience 
because  repetition  affords  no  opportunity  for  a  crit- 
ical estimate  of  the  comparative  worth  of  responses. 
Change  is  indispensable  to  critical,  productive  think- 
ing. 

The  lower  animals  are  prevented  from  discover- 
ing meaning  by  the  limitations  of  their  nervous 

Intelligence  means  S^m-  The  leSS  intelliSent  an 
variability  in  animal  the  more  fixed  must  be  its 

habits  of  response.  This  is  nec- 
essary for  survival.  The  habits — instincts — of  ani- 
mals low  in  the  scale  are  so  nearly  uniform  that  for 
many  years  they  were  thought  to  be  invariable. 
Those  of  higher  animals  have  long  been  known  to 
be  variable  and  it  is  because  of  this  variability  in 
habits  that  the  question  of  the  intelligence  and  rea- 


176  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

soning  of  animals  has  arisen.  In  other  words,  in- 
telligence and  variability  in  habits  progress  together. 
When  we  try  to  judge  intelligence  we  at  once  ask 
how  well  adapted  are  actions  to  novel  situations  and 
how  much  meaning  seems  to  be  found  in  the  events  ? 
But  this  inquiry  involves  the  further  question,  to 
what  extent  does  the  animal  group  objects  or  events 
under  one  or  a  few  classifications  ?  For,  obviously, 
if  many  dissimilar  objects  or  events  are  grouped 
together  little  or  no  meaning  can  be  found  in  them, 
since  meaning  begets  contrasts  and  differences,  from 
which — but  only  after  differences  have  been  seen — 
similarities  appear,  followed,  again,  by  a  deeper  and 
more  comprehensive  meaning.  The  final  question, 
then,  in  estimating  intelligence,  and  one  which  in- 
cludes all  the  others,  is,  to  what  extent  does  the 
animal  profit  from  experience?  Clearly,  there  is 
little  profit  if  dissimilar  objects  or  events  are  classed 
together  with  the  same  reaction  for  each.  Fishes, 
for  example,  have  a  very  limited  range  of  classifica- 
tion. If  the  day  is  right  they  snap  at  almost  any- 
thing that  is  thrown  into  the  water. 

Let  us  see  the  effect  on  human  actions  of  a  limited 
classification  of  causes  and  effects.  Obviously,  the 
result  of  shaping  conduct  by  conventional  rules — 
which  are  only  environmental  habits  operating  on 
individuals — can  best  be  understood  by  observing 
their  cumulative  effect  on  adults. 

When  one  reads  about  the  childhood  of  eminent 
men  and  women  one  is  amazed  at  the  number  who 


HABIT  IN  ACHIEVEMENT          177 


Notable  failures        Were    th°^ht     stu?id  .  ^ 
of  conventional        teachers.  An  investigation  of  this 
judgment  subject  by  the  writer  easily  re- 

vealed more  than  fifty  such  cases.*  A  study  of  the 
way  in  which  these  children  passed  their  time 
showed,  in  many  instances,  that  they  were  not  idle 
but  were  absorbed  in  things  of  which  the  school 
took  no  account.  Newton's  idleness,  for  example, 
was  caused  by  thoughts  about  mechanical  inventions. 
During  his  play  hours  he  was  constantly  engaged  in 
constructing  models  of  machines.  He  made,  among 
other  things,  a  water-clock,  a  windmill  and  a  car- 
riage to  be  moved  by  the  occupant.  Yet  this  busy 
thinking  child  was  rated  lazy  by  the  conventional 
classification. 

John  Ruskin,  who  was  engaged  in  original  com- 
position from  seven  years  of  age  and  who  at  ten 
presented  his  father  with  an  original  play  of  no 
little  merit,  at  sixteen  was  characterized  by  his 
teachers  as  "shaky"  in  scholarship  and  a  little  later 
entered  Oxford  as  a  "gentleman-commoner"  be- 
cause it  was  thought  doubtful  whether  he  could 
pass  the  examinations,  f 

Doctor  Ehrlich,  in  the  laboratory  of  his  teacher, 
was  pointed  out  to  visitors,  with  a  smile,  as  of  not 
much  good  but  a  clever  tissue  stainer.  Yet,  at  this 
very  time  he  was  showing  the  ability  and  dogged 
perseverance  that  later  kept  him  at  the  same  in- 

*  See  the  writer's  Mind  in  the  Making,  Chap.  I. 
t  See  John  Ruskin,  by  Frederic  Harrison,  p.  16. 


178  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

vestigation  until  he  had  made  six  hundred  and  five 
combinations,  all  "failures"  according  to  the  usual 
acceptance  of  the  word,  but  all  really  successes, 
since  in  each  experiment  he  saw  new  meaning  and, 
finally,  at  the  six  hundred  and  sixth  attempt,  suc- 
ceeded. 

It  would  be  a  rash  conclusion  to  say  that  these 
children  were  not  appreciated  because  of  lack  of 

ability  in  the  teachers  themselves. 
Their  explanation     _,  f 

The  cases  are  too  numerous  for 

that  explanation.  Besides,  some  of  the  teachers 
are  known  to  have  been  exceptionally  able  men. 
The  reason  for  their  failure  to  understand  these 
pupils  and  appreciate  their  ability  is  that  they  had 
adopted  the  conventional  pedagogical  habits.  They 
judged  their  pupils  by  the  inadequate  standard 
classification.  Another  reason  for  accepting  this 
explanation  is  that  some  of  the  fifty  "stupid"  chil- 
dren, who  became  men  of  eminence,  had  occasional 
teachers  who  appreciated  their  ability,  and,  as  far 
as  the  writer  has  been  able  to  learn,  all  of  these 
teachers  were  men  who  had  freed  themselves  from 
the  conventional  habits  of  the  schoolroom.  They 
were  like  Joseph  A.  Allen,  of  whom  Andrew  D. 
White  says,  he  was  "the  best  teacher  of  English 
branches  I  have  ever  known.  He  had  no  rules 
and  no  system;  or  rather,  his  rule  was  to  have 
no  rules,  and  his  system  was  to  have  no  system. 
...  He  seemed  to  divine  the  character  and  enter 


HABIT  IN  ACHIEVEMENT          179 

into  the  purpose  of  every  boy.  Work  under  him 
was  a  pleasure/'* 

Business  men  sometimes  seem  to  think  that 
teachers  have  a  monopoly  on  sterilizing  habits  but 

if  they  would  read  the  addresses 
Business  men  as 

well  as  teachers  delivered  at  the  Tuck  School  Con- 
habit-bound  ference  on  Scientific  Manage- 
ment, this  belief  would  quickly  vanish.  Onef  of 
the  speakers  told  of  finding  the  proprietor  of  a 
large  printing  house  personally  answering  all  tele- 
phone calls.  When  remonstrated  with  for  wasting 
his  time  in  office  boy's  work,  he  admitted  his  in- 
ability to  let  subordinates  attend  to  details  for  which 
they  were  quite  competent. 

Another  speaker^  quoted  a  conversation  with  the 
proprietor  of  a  large  establishment:  "I  am  con- 
stantly doing  things  which  I  have  no  business  to 
do,  but  I  can't  seem  to  get  away  from  them,"  was 
the  way  in  which  this  man  confessed  his  slavery 
to  a  pernicious  habit. 

The  difficulty  of  throwing  off  conventional  ideas 
in  the  business  world  was  shown  by  the  assertion 
of  onefl  of  the  speakers  that  the  National  Cost 
Congress  is  advocating  the  use  of  an  antiquated 
cost  system. 


*  Autobiography  of  Andrew  D.  White,  pp.  8-9. 
t  M.  L.  Cooke.    Report  of  the  Conference,  p.  245. 
I  Edwin  S.  Brown.    Report  of  the  Conference,  p.  245. 
fl  M.  L.  Cooke.    Report  of  the  Conference,  p.  242. 


i8o  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

We  have  been  discussing  a  phase  of  human  psy- 
chology, the  tendency  to  settle  into-  fixed  habits  of 
The  difficulty  of  thought  or  of  action.  It  is  one 
changing  habits  manifestation  of  the  physiological 
law  of  parsimony.  Certain  conditions  of  life  must 
be  met  and  the  organism  makes  the  necessary 
adaptations  in  the  most  economical  way.  Modes 
of  behavior  which  resist  adjustment  are  gradually 
eliminated  and  new  ways  of  acting  adopted  until 
the  adaptation  meets,  at  any  rate,  the  minimum 
requirement  of  effectiveness.  The  process  is  com- 
monly gone  through  unconsciously.  We  see  here 
the  difference  between  the  usual  reaction  to  con- 
ditions and  that  of  reformers.  The  latter  resist 
adaptation.  But  this  costs  energy  and  we  have 
seen  that  man  is  physiologically  inclined  to  be  eco- 
nomical in  this  expenditure.  For  this  reason  re- 
forms come  in  waves.  Continued  resistance  to 
adaptation  is  impossible  except  with  rare  individ- 
uals. The  conventional  reaction  is  easier  and  the 
conventional  is  always  conservative — it  repeats  past 
modes  of  reaction  with  just  enough  modification 
to  satisfy  the  minimum  requirements  of  changed 
conditions.  This  is  the  explanation  of  the  anti- 
quated cost  systems  urged  by  the  National  Cost 
Congress,  the  reason  why  business  men  are  so  often 
unable  to  break  the  habits  acquired  as  subordinates 
and  the  cause  of  the  continual  use  of  conventional 
systems  of  classification  and  of  traditional  methods 
in  the  schools. 


HABIT  IN  ACHIEVEMENT          181 

Acquiring  a  habit  is  easy.  It  usually  gets  us 
while  we  drift.  Breaking  one,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  exceedingly  difficult  because  nerve  currents  per- 
sist in  running  through  the  old  paths  which  are 
more  easily  traversed  on  account  of  constant  use. 
'The  great  difficulty  which  history  records,"  says 
Walter  Bagehot,*  "is  not  that  of  the  first  step, 
but  that  of  the  second  step.  What  is  most  evident 
is  not  the  difficulty  of  getting  a  fixed  law,  but  of 
getting  out  of  a  fixed  law;  not  of  cementing  a 
cake  of  custom,  but  of  breaking  the  cake  of  cus- 
tom; not  of  making  the  first  preservative  habit, 
but  of  breaking  through  it  and  reaching  something 
better." 

Bagehot  has  also  pointed  out  the  part  uncon- 
sciously played  in  history  by  conventional  ideas. 
Walter  Bagehot  In  the  formation  of  national  char- 
on  conservatism  acter,  "at  first  a  sort  of  chance 
predominance  made  a  model,  and  then  invincible 
attraction,  the  necessity  which  rules  all  but  the 
strongest  men  to  imitate  what  is  before  their  eyes, 
and  to  be  what  they  are  expected  to  be,  molded 
men  by  that  model." t  But  adopting  fixed  habits 
of  thought  and  action,  and  adaptation  by  imitation 
are  methods  suited  to  a  static  condition  of  society. 
They  offer  no  program  for  change.  "Our  habitual 
instructors,  our  ordinary  conversation,  our  inevita- 
ble and  ineradicable  prejudices,"  continues  Bage- 

*  Physics  and  Politics,  p.  52. 
.  3d 


182  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

hot,  "tend  to  make  us  think  that  'Progress'  is 
the  normal  fact  in  human  society,  the  fact  which 
we  should  expect  to  see,  the  fact  which  we  should 
be  surprised  if  we  did  not  see.  But  history  refutes 
this."* 

William  Jamesf  has  called  attention  to  the  re- 
lease of  energy  which  sometimes  follows  a  com- 
The  release  of  PIete  break  with  habits.  The 
mental  forces  sudden  burst  of  energy  and  rise 

of  ability  that  accompany  new  plans  and  a  change 
of  occupations  has  often  been  observed.  Men  un- 
expectedly become  adequate  to  the  responsibilities 
of  much  more  important  and  difficult  positions  than 
they  have  previously  held.  "I  did  not  know  it 
was  in  him/'  is  a  common  remark.  It  was  in  him 
but  could  not  be  drawn  on  as  long  as  he  held  his 
old  position  with  its  associated  habits,  to  which  he 
had  grown  so  accustomed  that  the  work  ran  along 
with  the  regularity  with  which  one  foot  is  placed 
before  the  other  in  walking,  and  with  scarcely  more 
attention.  Habits  of  occupation  reduce  ability  to 
the  lowest  level  that  the  work  will  stand.  Man 
does  no  more  thinking  than  is  necessary  and  habit 
eliminates  the  need  of  thought.  This  is  true  even 
in  acts  commonly  felt  to  involve  volition. 

In  speaking  of  the  growth  toward  automatism 
in  choice-processes  revealed  in  his  investigations, 

*  Ibid.,  p.  41. 

t  Science,  oiew  series,  Vol.  25,  p.  321. 


HABIT  IN  ACHIEVEMENT          183 

Warning  against  Barrett  says*  "regularity  was 
automatic  habits  manifested  in  every  phase  of  the 
choice-process,  in  the  manner  of  reading  the  card 
(to  which  the  subjects  reacted),  in  the  manner  of 
reacting,  and  of  realizing  the  choice.  Automatism 
entered  into  every  detail  of  the  experiment.  Even 
the  experimenter  came  to  perform  the  various  func- 
tions in  a  perfectly  automatic  way,  so  much  so, 
that  the  salient  note  of  the  whole  experiment 
toward  the  end  of  the  series  was  its  mechanical 
regularity."  "We  see,"  also,  "that  the  natural  tend- 
ency is  toward  automatic  choosing.  The  times 
grow  shorter,  the  number  of  phenomena  (admitted 
within  the  field  of  choice  by  the  subject)  grows 
less,  only  one  alternative  is  considered;  there  is 
economy  in  every  sense,  and  finally,  the  motiva- 
tion reaches  such  a  point  that  it  never,  or  practi- 
cally never,  deviates  from  a  certain  curve  or  mo- 
tivation-track." In  Barrett's  earlier  experiments 
those  who  were  being  tested  made  many  remarks 
about  motives,  feelings  and  judgments  which  influ- 
enced action,  but  toward  the  end  they  had  little 
to  say.  "There  was  nothing  to  remark.  There 
were  no  feelings,  hesitations  or  motives  to  describe. 
The  mental  act  had  become  direct  and  simple.  .  .  . 
The  will  had  gradually  ceased  to  expend  useless 
effort.  Volitional  force  was  economized.  .  .  .  Au- 
tomatism held  sway,  and  there  was  nothing  to 

*  Motive-Force  and  Motivation-Tracks,  by  E.  Boyd  Bar- 
rett. 


184  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

record."  That  is  a  pretty  good  description  of 
death  as  far  as  mental  activity  is  concerned;  yet 
it  seems  to  be  the  final  outcome  of  being  possessed 
by  habits.  Evidently,  if  one  is  to  have  living 
thoughts,  if,  indeed,  one  is  to  think  at  all,  it  is 
necessary  to  resist  the  encroachment  of  occupation- 
habits  by  vigorous,  determined  change  in  methods 
of  work. 

A  new  position  sometimes  forces  change  because 
the  old  habits  do  not  fit  the  new  occupation,  but 

with  teachers  even  a  new  school 
How  teachers  may 

prevent  fixed  hab-  does  not  always  require  a  mental 
its  of  thought  realignment.  Clearly,  then,  a 
definite  policy  must  be  followed  if  teachers  would 
avoid  the  mental  sclerosis  that  always  accompanies 
a  "setting"  of  thought  and  action.  As  to  the 
methods,  that  has  already  been  indicated.  If 
teachers  follow  the  thoughts  and  feelings  and  pur- 
poses of  their  pupils,  and  build  their  method  upon 
these  thoughts  and  feelings,  fossilization  may  be 
indefinitely  postponed  because  the  children  will  fur- 
nish enough  variety  to  make  things  both  interesting 
and  fertile. 

It  is  becoming  possessed  by  a  method  and  sys- 
tem to  which  all  children  are  trimmed  that  arrests 
growth  in  pupils  and  teachers  alike.  Most  of  us 
are  like  Montaigne,  "besotted  unto  liberty"  and  we 
resent  being  tailored  to  order.  If  the  school  is 
made  into  a  workshop  instead  of  a  task  shop, 
the  teacher  working  with  his  pupils  instead  of  over 


HABIT  IN  ACHIEVEMENT          1185 

them,  suggesting  and  guiding  rather  than  command- 
ing and  forbidding,  proposing  problems  and  reveal- 
ing just  enough  of  their  wonders  to  awaken 
curiosity,  he  will  be  driven  to  the  library  to  find 
answers  to  questions  and  his  own  study  there  will 
keep  his  mind  fresh  and  alert.  The  resistless  force 
of  suggestion  has  never  been  appreciated  by  those 
engaged  in  training  children.  Doctor  Adams,  the 
first  teacher  who  understood  Walter  Scott  and  al- 
most the  only  one  of  whom  Scott  speaks  with  affec- 
tion, was  accustomed  to  invite  his  pupils  to  attempt 
poetical  versions  of  passages  from  Horace  and  Ver- 
gil, but  never  made  them  tasks;  and  Scott,  called 
"stupid"  by  his  other  teachers,  was  made  to  feel 
by  Doctor  Adams  that  he  had  "a  character  for  learn- 
ing to  maintain." 

There  is,  however,  another  class  of  habits  which 
may  be  designated  habits  of  behavior.    These  habits 

are  the   slyest   imps  of  conduct 
Habits  of  behavior       .  .  , 

with    which    man    has    to    deal. 

They  are  always  taking  an  unfair  advantage,  run- 
ning their  own  course  while  we  are  off  our  guard. 
When  Benjamin  Franklin  conceived  "the  bold  and 
arduous  project  of  arriving  at  moral  perfection" 
he  found  that  while  he  was  guarding  against  one 
fault,  he  was  often  surprised  by  another.  "Habit 
took  advantage  of  attention ;  inclination  was  some- 
times too  strong  for  reason."* 

If  Franklin,  with  his  naive  striving  for  perfection, 

*  Autobiography. 


186  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

found  himself  outwitted  by  his  habits,  how  can 

_  we   expect  children  to  succeed? 
.Program  sug- 
gested by  Boy  The  children  are  in  school  only 
Scout  movement  a  small  part  Q£  ^  day  and  un_ 

less  we  can  bring  to  our  support  some  force  which 
shall  continue  to  exert  its  influence  beyond  school 
hours,  the  undertaking  seems  hopeless.  It  is  often 
wise,  when  perplexed,  to  look  beyond  our  own 
work  and  see  whether  we  can  discover  any  social 
phenomena  which  will  aid  us  in  analyzing  and  in- 
terpreting our  problems.  Now  we  find  just  this 
assistance  in  the  Boy  Scouts.  The  writer  happened, 
recently,  to  be  on  a  crowded  street-car  with  two 
Boy  Scouts  in  front  of  him,  one  seated  and  the 
other  standing.  A  gray-haired  but  vigorous  man 
entered  and  pushed  his  way  up  to  the  seat  of  the 
Scout.  Both  boys  saw  him,  but  for  a  minute  nothing 
happened.  Then  the  Scout  who  was  standing  took 
his  companion  by  the  collar  and  pulled  him  out  of 
his  seat,  at  the  same  time  touching  his  hat  to  the 
stranger  and  asking  him  to  sit  down.  After  the 
man  had  thanked  them  and  seated  himself  the  boy 
who  had  taken  the  active  part  whispered  to  his 
comrade,  "Don't  you  know  that  Scouts  must  be 
polite?" 

Why  does  the  influence  of  the  Boy  Scouts'  organ- 
ization extend  beyond  the  eye  of  the  Scout  Master  ? 
Explanation  of  There  is  only  one  explanation. 
its  influence  The  scouting  idea  appeals  to  the 

racial  instincts  of  boys  and  the  enthusiasm  which 


HABIT  IN  ACHIEVEMENT          187 

it  creates  is  carried  over  to  behavior  in  other  situa- 
tions. Conduct  then  becomes  an  integral  part  of 
their  thoughts  about  scouting.  The  emotions  of  the 
boys  become  allies  in  establishing  habits  of  behavior. 
But  it  goes  farther  than  this. 

In  a  school  with  which  the  writer  is  acquainted,  a 
boy  began  to  improve  in  his  studies  and  conduct 
A  power  worth  w^h  a  rapidity  that  attracted  his 
utilizing  teacher's  attention.  When  she 

asked  him  one  day  what  had  caused  the  change,  he 
replied :  "I've  joined  the  Boy  Scouts  and  my  com- 
pany won't  let  boys  stay  in  it  if  they  don't  keep  up 
with  their  classes."  Evidently  there  is  a  tremendous 
power  here  waiting  to  be  utilized  in  training  boys. 

It  has  been  found,  however,  that  the  scouting 
idea  is  not  the  only  one  which  draws  power  from 
Use  of  pupil-  the  racial  instincts  of  children, 

government  Experiments  in  pupil-government 

show  that  the  instinct  to  do  things,  to  manage  their 
own  affairs — in  short  the  instinct  for  workmanship 
— is  quite  as  strong  as  that  for  scouting.  Indeed, 
the  indications  are  that  a  large  part  of  the  power 
which  is  utilized  by  the  Scout  Masters  comes  from 
just  this  instinct  to  manage  things.  Joined  with  this, 
of  course,  is  the  instinct  to  show  off,  to  exercise  au- 
thority and,  strangely  paradoxical  as  it  may  seem, 
the  instinct  to  obey.  Children  do  not  object  to  obey- 
ing when  they  are  organized  for  obedience. 

Pupil-government  is  often  misunderstood.  The 
teacher  does  not  surrender  his  authority  and  turn 


i88  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

the  school  over  to  the  children. 
A  misconception        __ 
about  pupil-  He  acts  through  the  children  by 

government  suggestion,    conferring    with    the 

leaders  or  letting  them  work  out  their  difficulties 
themselves,  as  his  judgment  may  dictate ;  and  acting 
through  the  children  is  much  easier  when  there  is 
some  organization.  That  pupil-government  may  be 
understood  it  may  be  said  to  be  in  every  way  analo- 
gous to  an  exhibition  in  which  pupils  and  teacher 
join.  The  children  feel  that  this  exhibition  is  theirs, 
as  indeed  it  is,  and  they  organize  for  its  success. 
The  fact  that  the  teacher  does  not  assert  himself  and 
give  directions  does  not  mean  that  he  is  an  unimpor- 
tant factor  in  the  preparations.  If  he  is  wise  he  re- 
mains in  the  background,  letting  the  children  plan 
and  work,  helping  them,  of  course,  by  suggestions  to 
the  leaders  at  the  right  moment,  but  always  working 
as  one  of  them  and  emphasizing  their  ability,  rather 
than  his  own,  to  meet  the  difficulties.  And  every 
teacher  knows  that  his  influence,  though  unaggres- 
sive,  is  not  less  potent  here  than  in  the  schoolroom. 
Children  like  to  work  the  machinery  of  an  organ- 
ization. Besides,  the  admonitions  then  have  the 
Fascination  of  sentiment  of  the  school  behind 
organizing  them.  Disturbances,  which  are 

usually  popular  and  convert  the  trouble-maker  into 
a  hero,  because  the  mischief  is  directed  against  the 
teacher,  are  now  felt  to  be  an  infringement  on  the 
rights  of  the  pupils,  an  annoyance  to  the  body-politic 
of  the  school. 


HABIT  IN  ACHIEVEMENT          189 

There  are  various  forms  which  pupil-government 
may  take.    The  "Roman  State,"  the  "Athenian  As- 
sembly"  and  other  experimental 
?eessSo?SvfarfousC"      organizations   referred  to   in  an 

forms  of  pupil-        earlier  chapter  did  not  have  the 

government  '        .-  , 

name    of    pupil-government    and 

the  idea  seems  not  to  have  been  emphasized  in  any 
of  them.  They  all,  however,  represent  organiza- 
tions of  the  pupils  to  accomplish  the  things  for 
which  they  were  attending  school.  These  activities 
appealed  to  the  racial  instincts  to  join  together  for  a 
definite  purpose,  to  manage  things,  and  they  brought 
to  the  support  of  the  teachers  that  tremendously 
powerful  racial  force  which  demands  employment 
and  which  will  find  it  in  escapades  and  trouble  if  it  is 
not  given  other  outlets.  When  these  instincts  are  uti- 
lized and  the  teacher  acts  with  them  instead  of 
against  them,  the  influence  for  behavior  that  makes 
for  success  in  the  school  and  the  larger  world  out- 
side extends  beyond  the  building  because  the  work 
that  the  pupils  are  doing  is  then  their  own.  They 
are  doing  it  for  themselves  and  not  for  the  teacher, 
and  the  habits  which  are  urged  take  on  a  personal 
interest.  The  children  then  move  under  their  own 
steam  and  the  power  comes  from  the  inexhaustible 
store  of  racial  energy ;  and  the  teacher  assumes  his 
proper  function  at  the  wheel  instead  of  pushing 
from  behind.  "The  school  is,  in  fact,  given  to  the 
care  of  the  pupils,"  says  Demolins  of  the  famous 
L'ecole  des  Roches.  "It  is  their  task;  they  are  re- 


I9o  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

sponsible  for  its  order  and  its  cleanliness.  The  con- 
fidence and  respect  shown  them  develops  self-respect 
and  self-confidence.  I  do  not  know  that  there  is 
any  more  efficient  means  to  build  up  men."* 

We  have  been  trying  to  show  the  importance  of 
the  environment  in  the  school  for  acquiring  effi- 
Habit  and  school  cient  habits.  It  is  commonly 
environment  thought  that  firm  discipline  and 

good  teaching  are  all  that  is  required  to  make  a 
good  school ;  but  after  all,  these  requisites  are  only 
prerequisites.  The  teacher  may  do  his  part  ad- 
mirably and  yet  the  result  be  nullified  by  the  at- 
mosphere of  resistance  pervading  the  school;  and 
just  now  we  are  inquiring  how  this  resistance  may 
be  overcome.  As  in  other  matters  which  we  have 
discussed,  this  problem  of  habit- formation,  when 
reduced  to  its  lowest  terms,  means  making  situa- 
tions to  which  the  children  will  adapt  themselves; 
and  the  conditions  should  be  so  planned  that  in 
making  the  adaptation  the  desirable  habits  will  be- 
come "set."  This,  as  we  have  seen,  involves  cre- 
ating a  school  sentiment  favorable  to  the  employ- 
ment of  these  habits. 

A  teacher's  task  is  much  the  same  as  that  of 
a  military  general.  If  he  has  not  a  hostile  army 

Similarity  between  in  front  of  him  he>  at  any  rate> 
task  of  a  teacher  has  a  body  of  children  in  more 
and  of  a  general  1  .  ,  ,,  ,,. 

or  less  resistance  to  the  things 

they  ought  to  do.     Now  a  good  general  plans  the 
*  Elementary  School  Teacher,  Vol.  6,  p.  227. 


HABIT  IN  ACHIEVEMENT          191 

conditions  of  the  battle.  Nothing  in  the  configura- 
tion of  the  ground  and  no  obstructions  to  the  move- 
ment of  troops  are  overlooked.  He  tries  to  plan 
a  situation,  by  means  of  the  contour  of  the  field 
and  through  obstacles  to  the  movement  of  the  op- 
posing forces,  that  shall  compel  the  enemy  to  do 
the  things  he  wants  them  to  do.  In  other  words 
he  forces  adaptation  to  the  situation  which  he  has 
planned;  and  he  does  it  against  the  will  of  his 
opponents  by  utilizing  conditions  at  his  disposal  and 
by  creating  others.  Skill  in  this  makes  up  his  gen- 
eralship. 

The  "setting"  of  the  situation  is  as  essential  to 
success  in  school  as  on  the  field  of  battle.    At  best 

T  t         there  are  conditions,  such  as  those 

Importance  of  e  9 

right  school  of  the  home,  which  can  not  be 

atmosphere  fuj]y  controlled;   and  this  makes 

those  at  the  disposal  of  the  teacher  the  more  im- 
portant. As  long  as  there  is  no  feeling  of  approval 
among  the  pupils  for  the  formation  of  desirable 
habits  it  will  be  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  make 
them  take  a  firm  hold  on  the  children.  If,  how- 
ever, there  is  a  feeling  that  those  who  do  not  adapt 
themselves  are  obstructing  progress  and  interfering 
with  the  rights  of  their  fellows,  adaptation  is  cer- 
tain to  be  forced;  and  that  feeling  prevails  very 
strongly  when  the  pupils  are  organized  among  them- 
selves to  do  the  work  of  the  school.  Teachers 
must  certainly  insist  rigorously  on  the  method  of 
work  that  leads  to  the  formation  of  desirable 


192  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

habits.  We  are  speaking,  however,  of  the  way  in 
which  this  insistence  shall  be  made  and  of  the  man- 
ner of  winning  the  pupils'  support.  Teachers  may 
point  out  the  value  of  certain  habits  and  may  in- 
flict penalties  upon  those  who  fail  to  respond,  only 
to  be  discouraged  by  the  results  at  the  end  of  the 
year.  When,  however,  influence  is  applied  through 
the  organized  body  of  pupils  the  result  of  the  com- 
bined action  is  often  amazing. 

In  the  reaction  against  severity  of  discipline 
a  certain  laxness  has  arisen.  The  effort  to  make 
Laxness  of  studies  pleasant  has  ended  in  mak- 

discipline  j[ng  them  easy.     There  has  been 

too  much  sentimentality  and  too  little  frank  inter- 
action between  teacher  and  pupils  as  coworkers  for 
the  same  purpose,  with  firm  and  ceaseless  insistence 
on  exactness  in  the  habits  which  are  essential  to 
success.  The  scrub-woman  of  a  friend  of  the 
writer,  in  a  city  famous  for  its  schools,  recently 
put  it  in  this  way  to  her  mistress:  "Annie,  my 
girl,  goes  to  school  and  she  does  a  little  of  this  and 
a  little  of  that,  and  when  the  children  are  tired  or 
don't  want  to  do  the  lesson  they're  on,  the  teacher 
she  changes  them  off  to  something  easier,  and  you 
know  that's  no  way  to  train  girls.  All  their  lives 
they'll  have  to  do  things  when  they're  tired  and 
don't  want  to.  Now,  when  I  tell  Annie  to  do  any- 
thing she  says,  'Oh,  I'm  tired.'  They  don't  teach 
'em  thorough,  either.  Last  night  Annie  was  doin' 
the  dishes  an'  her  father  he  seen  that  she  wasn't 


HABIT  IN  ACHIEVEMENT           193 

half  cleanin'  'em  and  he  made  her  do  'em  over, 
and  she  says  to  him,  *  You're  awful  hard  on  me, 
a  sight  harder'n  teacher.  She  says  I  work  real 

good';  and  that's  just  it,  Miss  ,  with  the 

teachers.  Pretty  well's  good  enough." 

The  view  regarding  habits  of  behavior  toward 
work  which  this  scrub-woman  expressed  so  crudely 
The  basis  of  good  is  good  psychology.  As  we  have 
school  habits  seen^  man  expends  just  energy 

enough  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  the  situation  in 
which  he  is  placed.  If  he  can  find  ways  of  em- 
ploying less  energy  by  evading  certain  demands  he 
is  likely  to  accommodate  himself  to  this  lower  level 
of  requirement  unless  he  has  been  trained  to  habits 
of  application  in  his  youth.  With  adults,  social 
and  business  exigencies  exert  an  influence  entirely 
unknown  to  children.  Obviously,  the  effort  should 
be  made  to  reproduce  these  efficient  motives  for 
behavior  in  the  school.  This  reproduction  of  busi- 
ness incentives  is  one  of  the  benefits  of  combining 
school  work  with  work  in  shops  and  trades,  under 
the  regular  conditions  of  these  occupations;  and 
the  organization  of  children  into  pupil-government 
has  the  same  effect,  because  the  school  then  be- 
comes a  community  with  certain  purposes  and  aims 
which  the  children  have  banded  together  to  pro- 
mote. 

Such  organizations  also  furnish  reasons  which 
the  children  can  appreciate  for  the  insistence  of 
the  teacher  upon  industry  and  accuracy  and  other 


194  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

habits  of  behavior  in  the  school.  These  require- 
ments no  longer  seem  to  be  arbitrary  demands  of 
the  teacher.  They  have  their  justification  in  the 
work  which  the  children  are  organized  to  do,  and 
which  they  wish  to  do  successfully  because  it  is 
their  own.  The  failure  of  any  one  to  do  his  share 
meets  the  same  disapproval  from  associates  that  is 
accorded  "soldiering"  on  the  football  field.  A  child 
who  has  passed  the  age  of  ten  or  twelve  does  what 
he  thinks  his  fellows  will  applaud;  and  when  the 
school  is  organized  into  an  industrial  and  social 
community  with  pupils  for  its  officers,  the  motives 
of  the  larger  society  outside  the  school  prevail. 
The  children  then  applaud  achievements,  and  in 
doing  things  successfully  the  habits  which  are  es- 
sential to  success  in  work  are  fixed.  All  of  this 
is  only  the  application  of  the  psychology  of  be- 
havior to  the  school. 


CHAPTER  VII 


NEW  DEMANDS  ON  THE  SCHOOLS 

THAT  was  an  epoch-making  book  that  Her- 
bert  Spencer  wrote  on  education.  It  fell  like 
a  thunder-bolt  out  of  a  clear  sky,  and,  like  the 
Two  types  storm,  it  cleared  the  atmosphere. 

of  books  on  Some  books  are  perennial  because 

they  touch  human  chords  and  set 
them  vibrating  with  music  that  quickens  a  respon- 
sive mood  in  each.  The  strains  they  play  are  not 
the  same  with  different  persons  because  the  respon- 
siveness of  the  nervous  system  varies  with  experi- 
ence. Such  a  book  is  Rousseau's  Emile.  I  rarely 
find  two  persons  who  get  the  same  meaning  from 
it;  but  all — except  those  obsessed  by  the  spirit  of 
exactness — get  something. 

Spencer's  Education,  on  the  other  hand,  did  its 
work  and  passed.  It  appeared  when  the  authority 
of  the  ancients  rested  heavily  upon  the  schools,  and 
it  released  them  from  the  weight  of  tradition  by 
revealing  a  new  body  of  knowledge  and  new  prob- 
lems— modern  problems — which  we  had  with  us 
all  the  time  but  had  not  discovered. 

The  change  was  made  slowly.    Indeed,  it  is  not 

195 


196  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

yet  fully  completed,  for  man  rarely,  if  ever,  breaks 

_.  suddenly  and  completely  from  his 

Timorous  thinking         ,.  .       -  ^  r 

traditional    moorings.      Fear    of 

the  uncertainty  beyond  drives  him  back  to  familiar 
waters  where  he  feels  acquainted  with  the  sound- 
ings. Unless,  like  Spencer,  he  be  a  pioneer  in  think- 
ing, and  they  are  few,  he  charts  the  sea  of  new 
ideas  by  paddling  round  the  edges,  going  out  a 
little  way  at  times  but  hastily  returning  when  things 
become  too  strange.  Who  has  not  had  the  experi- 
ence of  convincing  a  friend  of  a  new  belief  only 
to  find  him  back  in  his  old  ideas  the  next  day? 

So,  in  spite  of  the  revolution  that  Spencer  started 
there  continues  to  be  a  great  deal  of  uncertainty 

The  utilitarian  and  about  the  Purpose  of  education, 
the  philosophic  Writers  on  this  subject  fall  into 
ideals  of  education  ,  «  -^  ,<  r 

two  general  groups.    For  the  first, 

ability  to  make  a  living  is  what  teachers  should 
keep  in  mind,  while  the  others  emphasize  what  may 
be  called  the  philosophical  attitude  toward  life. 
Our  thoughts  and  aspirations,  all  that  we  include 
under  ideals,  these  philosophical  educators  insist 
are  the  important  things  to  seek.  The  former  took 
up  Spencer's  work  where  he  stopped,  and  to-day 
they  are  the  advocates  of  industrial  and  vocational 
training.  They  have  secured  a  strategic  advantage 
in  having  a  definite  program  to  offer.  The  other 
group  is  not  so  well  organized  because  there  is  less 
agreement  among  its  members  regarding  the  essen- 
tials of  education. 


NEW  DEMANDS  ON  SCHOOLS      197 

These  two  opinions  seem  to  imply  opposition  if 
not  contradiction.  Thinking  is  put  over  against  do- 
Harmonizing  the  ing  and  the  implication  is  always 
two  views  jn  evidence  that  if  children  are 

trained  to  the  one  the  other  must  of  necessity  be  ex- 
cluded. But  we  have  found  that  the  two  are  only 
parts  of  the  response  of  mind  to  situations  that  con- 
front us.  Ideas  of  one  sort  or  another  are  gained 
through  sense  impressions,  and  the  nervous  current 
thus  started  requires  an  outlet,  and  that  is  action. 
We  call  the  results — when  the  mind  has  done  its 
share — experience.  The  trouble  is  that  with  too 
many  the  nervous  paths  from  sense-organs  lead  only 
to  blind  alleys.  No  action  follows.  The  emotions, 
started  by  thoughts  or  sense  impressions,  ooze  away. 
These  are  the  inefficient  people.  They  mean  well 
but  do  nothing.  Every  one  knows  them  among 
acquaintances  and  no  teacher  is  without  them  in 
the  school.  They  are  the  children  who  lament  their 
failures  and  are  always  making  promises  that  are 
never  kept.  Among  adults  this  state  of  mind  af- 
fords joy  to  some  who  revel  in  unintelligent  op- 
timism, and  pain  to  others  who  bewail  their  fate. 
Now  this  emotional  debauchery  is  a  habit  that 
has  been  acquired  through  the  separation  of  thought 
from  action. 

We  are  trying  to  find  the  meaning  of  education 
and  we  may  be  helped  by  reducing  it  to  its  lowest 
terms.  We  can  then  see  what  changes  are  needed 
as  it  becomes  more  complex. 


198  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

Among  the  lower  animals  education  is  fully  'de- 
fined in  terms  of  adaptation.     No  animal  can  live 

Animal  education     that  is  not  Adapted  to  its  environ- 
defined  by  ment,  and  fitness  to  survive  is  all 

there  is  to  animal  education.  But 
adaptation  alone  does  not  go  far.  If  the  food 
upon  which  a  group  of  animals  depends  suddenly 
fails,  the  animals  perish.  Evidently,  even  among 
the  lowest  forms,  ability  to  change,  to  readjust  one's 
self  to  new  conditions,  is  advantageous  and,  as 
we  ascend  the  animal  series,  it  becomes  essential 
to  the  survival  of  the  species.  Among  the  lower 
animals,  where  adaptation  is  all  there  is  to  educa- 
tion, nature  provides  for  it  through  instinct.  These 
animals  are  endowed  at  birth  with  an  almost  un- 
erring tendency  to  do  the  same  thing  under  appar- 
ently similar  circumstances.  In  the  great  majority 
of  cases,  this  serves  its  purpose,  which  is  preserva- 
tion. It  were  better  that  fishes  bite  at  everything 
offered  and  occasionally  be  caught  than  that  they 
risk  the  loss  of  a  meal  by  hesitation.  Nature  pro- 
vides for  the  comparatively  few  fatal  mistakes  by 
making  animals  prolific.  Twenty  thousand  eggs  are 
laid  by  a  herring  and  upward  of  sixteen  million 
by  an  oyster,  while  the  conger-eel  must  lay  fifteen 
million  annually  to  escape  annihilation.*  "Certain 
bacteria  multiply  so  rapidly  that  the  descendants 
of  a  single  individual,  if  allowed  to  multiply  un- 

*  See  Lectures  on  the  Darwinian  Theory,  by  C.  J.  Marshall. 


NEW  DEMANDS  ON  SCHOOLS      199 

hindered  for  three  'days,  would  be  represented  by 
the  figures  47,000,000,000,000."* 

Adaptation  meets  the  needs  of  a  static  environ- 
ment, but  for  sudden  change  nature  has  made  no 
Limitations  of  provision.  Her  penalty  for  fail- 
animal  adaptation  ure  to  meet  the  unexpected  is  re- 
lentless destruction,  until  by  the  slow  process  of 
bodily  reorganization  new  organisms  are  produced 
suited  to  the  conditions  that  destroyed  their  prede- 
cessors. This  is  an  expensive  method.  It  costs 
time  and  life.  Now  one  of  the  aims  of  human 
education,  as  distinguished  from  animal  training, 
should  be  to  eliminate  this  waste  by  producing  be- 
ings capable  of  interpreting  situations  and  of  rapid 
readjustment.  But  rapid  adjustment  requires  abil- 
ity to  look  at  least  a  little  way  into  the  future, 
else  the  change  is  here  before  one  is  prepared. 

As  I  write,  a  despatch  in  one  of  the  daily  papers  f 
reports  that  a  western  county  has  been  invaded  by 
millions  of  rabbits. 

"Already  a  district  of  over  two  hundred  eighty- 
eight  square  miles  has  been  swept  clean  by  the  pests, 
and  the  rabbits  are  widening  out,  the  main  army 
apparently  dividing  into  two  forces,  one  of  which 
is  invading  the  lands  farther  north,  while  the  other 
is  attacking  the  country  farther  west. 

"The  farmers  of  that  region  have  been  opening 
up  a  practically  new  country,  and  the  loss  of  their 
grain  crops  leaves  them  facing  starvation.  The 

*H.  W.  Conn:  The  Method  of  Evolution,  p.  53. 

t  New  York  Times,  July  1,  1913.    Unessentials  omitted. 


soo  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

rabbits  came  in  hordes  from  the  region  to  the  west, 
toward  the  Columbia  River,  when  the  tender  feed 
began  to  dry  up,  and  the  young  grain  fields  have 
been  a  luscious  find  for  them.  They  cut  down  the 
stalks  of  grain  just  below  the  head,  leaving  the 
stubble  standing. 

"Authorities  say  that  only  the  abolition  of  the 
coyote  bounty  will  avail  in  wiping  out  the  rabbits 
in  that  region." 

This  illustrates  the  adaptation  to  the  static  con- 
dition of  which  we  have  been  speaking.  The  legis- 
lators and  other  inhabitants  of  that  state  seem  to 
have  assumed  that  when  the  coyotes  were  killed 
nature  would  freeze  up,  as  it  were,  and  changes 
cease.  The  one  thing  on  which  these  people  fixed 
their  attention  was  that  coyotes  are  the  enemy  of 
sheep  and  stock.  The  related  and,  as  it  appears, 
equally  important  facts — that  coyotes  destroy  vast 
numbers  of  rabbits  and  so  keep  these  little  plagues 
in  their  proper  place  of  subordination — were  not 
considered.  Yet  these  facts  are  primer  knowledge 
to  every  westerner. 

Of  course,  these  people  did  not  expect  changes 
to  end  after  the  coyotes  were  gone.  Put  in  the 
common  vernacular,  they  "didn't  think."  If  we 
express  it  somewhat  more  scientifically,  they  used 
the  animal  method,  of  which  we  have  been  speak- 
ing, to  meet  the  situation.  Finding  that  coyotes 
were  killing  sheep  and  stock,  they  took  the  first 
and  easiest  means  of  self-protection.  They  offered 
a  prize  in  the  form  of  a  bounty  for  every  coyote 


NEW  DEMANDS  ON  SCHOOLS      aoi 

killed.  Since  coyotes  were  numerous  this  bounty 
gave  an  easy  livelihood  to  many.  As  a  result  the 
coyotes  have  passed,  and  with  their  passing  has 
come  the  change  that  should  have  been  foreseen. 

Adaptation   clearly   acquires   a   new   and  wider 
meaning  when  applied  to  human  beings.     Foresee- 

ing the  future  involves  construct- 
Difference  in  .....  f 

meaning  of  animal   ing  an  imaginary  situation  out  of 


the  materials  of  experience  but 
with  a  different  arrangement  and, 
perhaps,  with  some  omissions.  This  is  thinking 
things  in  new  relations.  The  people,  for  example,  of 
whom  we  spoke  above,  should  have  pictured  a  situ- 
ation from  which  coyotes  were  missing.  Then  it 
would  not  have  been  difficult  to  foresee  the  count- 
less increase  of  smaller  animals  that  they  destroy. 
Imagining  new  arrangements  of  materials  and  ac- 
tions with  which  we  are  already  familiar  is  the 
basis  of  all  invention  whether  in  thoughts  or  things. 
The  aeroplane  is  only  a  new  application  of  materi- 
als and  forces  which  had  already  been  used  in 
other  ways. 

The  trial  and  error  method  is  used  by  man  and 
the  lower  animals  alike.  The  difference  is  in  its 
The  advantage  application.  The  imagination  of 
of  human  the  lower  animals  is  probably 

limited  to  mental  reproduction  of 
what  their  senses  give.  It  is  doubtful  whether,  in 
their  memory  image,  they  can  add  or  subtract  much 
from  the  original  presentation.  This  power  to 


202  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

change  the  picture,  to  see  it  altered  by  one  omission 
after  another,  to  imagine  new  situations  with  some 
of  the  factors  in  the  old  omitted — the  ability  to 
reduce  the  number  of  possible  causes  by  the  proc- 
ess of  elimination — enables  man  to  discover  causes. 
But  it  is  necessary  to  train  him  in  its  use. 

A  drove  of  sheep  were  being  driven  from  one 
pasture  to  another.  The  foremost  jumped  a  rail 
Imitation  and  so  high  that  it  required  consider- 
inefficiency  afte  effort  to  make  the  leap. 

Soon,  accidentally,  one  struck  the  rail  and  knocked 
it  down.  But  the  rest  of  the  sheep,  even  to  the 
last,  gave  the  same  leap  that  had  been  a  part  of  the 
successful  series  of  actions  of  those  who  went  be- 
fore. Man,  also,  tends  to  repeat  the  program  which 
he  has  seen  or  learned.  This  is  one  of  the  factors 
in  his  inefficiency  and  it  is  with  the  elimination 
of  these  useless  movements  that  the  principle  of 
scientific  management  is  concerned.  Here,  again, 
it  is  a  matter  of  trial  and  error  joined  with  im- 
proved capacity  to  recognize  success  and  understand 
its  cause. 

We  have  found  that  education  reduced  to  its  low- 
est terms  is  adaptation  to  environment.  As  ani- 
Adaptation  di-  ma*s  Become  more  complex  ability 

rected  by  to  foresee  changes  and  to  plan  for 

intelligence  ,.  .         t1    ,         A.- 

them    is    added.      Adaptation    is 

then  directed  by  intelligence  and  the  old  primitive 
trial  and  error  method  acquires  new  significance. 
Training  for  this  higher  mode  of  adaptation,  and 


NEW  DEMANDS  ON  SCHOOLS      203 

practice  in  it,  are  essential  parts  of  the  education 
of  children.  It  was  for  this  that  man's  longer  pe- 
riod of  infancy  was  given. 

The  committee  in  charge  of  the  Portland  school 
survey  laid  down  three  fundamental  working  prin- 
The  school  and  ciples  which  are  as  true  for 
community  schools  in  other  sections  of  the 

country,  and  for  small  and  large  towns  alike,  as 
they  are  for  Portland.  "First,  the  children  and 
youth  of  the  community  must  be  constantly  and 
sympathetically  studied  by  teachers  and  principals, 
in  order  that  these  may  understand  at  all  times  the 
condition,  the  capacity,  the  interests,  and  the  edu- 
cational needs  of  each  child  or  youth. 

"Second,  the  various  present  and  prospective  op- 
portunities and  needs  of  the  community  for  worthy 
service  must  also  be  studied,  constantly  and  appre- 
ciatively, particularly  by  those  immediately  respon- 
sible for  the  education  of  youth  soon  to  be  called 
upon  to  take  effective  part  in  the  occupations  and 
life  of  the  community." 

It  is  interesting,  in  this  connection  to  read  in 
the  Carnegie  Foundation's  report  on  Vermont  that 
"Something  is  radically  wrong  with  a  school  in 
an  agricultural  community  that  develops  motormen, 
stenographers,  and  typewriters,  and  fails  to  develop 
farmers,  dairymen,  and  gardeners." 

"Third,  the  instruction  of  each  child  and  yeuth 
— the  content,  method,  and  the  immediate  purpose 
of  that  instruction — must  be  constantly  adapted  to 


204  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

the  needs  of  that  child  or  youth,  in  the  light  of 
the  needs  of  the  community." 

Change  characterizes  the  present.  Inventions  are 
so  frequent  that  manufacturers  find  difficulty  in 
Change,  a  charac-  meeting  the  expense  of  introduc- 
teristic  of  the  age  ;ng  them,  and  railway  companies 
are  continually  obliged  to  reconstruct  or  discard 
cars  and  make  over  their  road  beds.  A  battle-ship, 
with  its  tremendous  cost  of  five  million  dollars  or 
more,  is  obsolete  in  about  ten  years  and  practically 
worthless  for  its  purpose  a  little  later.  The  auto- 
mobile has  made  necessary  an  entirely  new  science 
of  road  building,  and  the  farmer  who  a  few  years 
ago  was  able  to  make  a  good  living  by  merely  hard 
work  is  no  longer  able  to  compete  with  those  who 
foresaw  the  change  and  availed  themselves  of  sci- 
entific methods.  Even  the  rotation  of  crops  which 
not  long  ago  was  regarded  as  the  acme  of  the 
science  of  farming  is  now  compared  by  one  ex- 
pert to  the  effect  on  a  bank-account  of  rotating  a 
check  book  among  different  members  of  the  family. 

The  changes  that  are  going  on  with  such  amaz- 
ing rapidity  call  for  correspondingly  rapid  readapta- 

Success  depend-  tion  of  those  who  wish  to  suc" 
ent  on  rapid  ceed.  But  the  period  of  acceler- 

readaptation  ,    , 

ated  progress  came  upon  us  so 

unexpectedly  that  we  have  not  yet  succeeded  in 
adjusting  ourselves  to  it.  How  sudden  has  been 
the  change  the  apprentice  life  of  men  still  in  active 
business  shows.  When  they  were  boys  conditions 


NEW  DEMANDS  ON  SCHOOLS      203 

were  comparatively  stable.  A  son  expected  to  fol- 
low in  his  father's  business,  or,  if  not,  he  learned 
a  trade  or  selected  some  other  occupation  suited 
to  his  taste.  Permanency  and  stability  were  always 
counted  on.  But  how  quickly  was  he  undeceived. 
Perhaps,  with  meager  ability,  little  schooling  and 
parental  demand  for  financial  aid,  he  learned  the 
trade  of  making  shoes.  We  know  the  disappoint- 
ment of  those  who  did.  It  was  not  long  before 
machinery  drove  them  out  of  business.  To-day, 
they  cobble  and  find  it  difficult  to  live.  Resoling 
shoes  with  the  electric  hammer  has  greatly  reduced 
their  income. 

Some  time  ago  the  writer  made  the  acquaintance 
of  a  machine  and  implement  maker  who  learned 

his  trade  when  skilled  hand  work- 
Instances  •  1  1  rn  , 

men  were  in  demand.  To-day 
the  university  laboratory  is  the  only  place  where 
he  can  find  employment.  But  laboratories  large 
enough  to  employ  a  skilled  mechanic  are  not  numer- 
ous, so  most  of  those  who  learned  this  trade  have 
been  forced  into  other  occupations. 

We  are  all  familiar  with  the  change  which  the 
mail-order  houses  and  trolley  lines  have  brought 
on  the  general  country  stores. 

These  are  a  few  of  the  instances  which  might 
be  cited  to  show  the  trend.  Apparently  the  only 
certainty  to-day  in  trades  or  business  is  their  un- 
certainty. And  those  who  are  to  succeed  must  be 
prepared  for  change,  since  there  is  abundant  ground 


so6  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

for  the  belief  that  industrial  reconstruction  has  only 
begun. 

The  significance  of  this  for  the  schools  is  evi- 
dent; for  the  changes  of  which  we  are  speaking 

have  brought  with  them  altera- 
Significance  for 
schools  of  social      tions  m  the  home  that  have  pro- 

f  oundly  affected  education.  When 
two  interdependent  institutions 
grow  up  together  their  points  of  contact  adjust 
themselves  to  each  other.  For  this  reason  the 
home  and  school  of  fifty  years  ago  fitted  nicely  into 
the  industrial  conditions  of  the  period.  This  is 
one  phase  of  nature's  law  of  adaptation.  She  is 
not  concerned  with  the  final  outcome.  .  One  result 
satisfies  her  as  well  as  another.  But  things  must 
work.  If  they  do  not  the  system  is  unstable  and 
alterations  of  one  sort  or  another  will  occur  until 
a  workable  relationship  is  found.  Public  school 
systems,  for  example,  owe  their  origin  to  the  in- 
sistent demand  for  industrial  equality,  because  de- 
mocracy and  the  education  of  a  selected  few  could 
not  come  to  a  working  agreement.  As  long  as 
a  change  is  slow,  adjustment  keeps  pace,  but  when 
one  part  of  the  social  organization  outstrips  another, 
confusion  arises  and  continues  until  a  new  state 
of  equilibrium  is  finally  established.  After  that 
adjustment  must  begin  anew.  To-day  we  are  pass- 
ing through  such  a  period  of  readjustment  on  ac- 
count of  the  revolutionary  social  and  industrial 


NEW  DEMANDS  ON  SCHOOLS 

changes  of  the  last  few  decades.  Home  life  has 
undergone  a  transformation  with  which  the  school 
has  not  kept  pace. 

If  the  training  for  the  business  of  life  by  the 
home  is  possible  to-day  the  difficulties  in  its  way 

Difficulty  of  are  so  &reat  that  f ew  parents  will 

modern  home  in  overcome  the  resistance.  Easy 
training  for  life  f  , .  ,  ,  1 

access  of  the  country  boy  to  the 

dissipations  of  the  town,  tenement  life  among  the 
city  poor,  apartment-house  life  with  the  well-to- 
do  and  the  high  pressure  social  life  of  the  rich  are 
not  conducive  to  training  for  successful  manhood 
and  womanhood.  Of  course  it  can  be  done,  but 
constant  effort  to  overcome  obstructions  is  difficult 
and  man  finally  settles  down  to  the  laissez-faire 
attitude  and  education  becomes  a  matter  of  the  play 
of  chance  forces  of  the  environment. 

It  is  useless  to  attempt  to  limit  and  define  the 
responsibility  of  the  factors  contributing  to  edu- 

Task  of  schools  cation'  We  are  Baling  with  a 
to  supplement  situation,  and  if  the  homes  fail 
failure  of  home  ,  .,  Xl  «  ,  T> 

to  meet  it  the  schools  must.  Be- 
sides, education  is  the  business  of  the  teacher.  The 
belief  that  duty  ends  with  the  instruction  in  the 
three  R's  is  very  modern.  In  the  colonial  days 
the  schoolmaster  was  second  only  to  the  preacher 
as  guide  and  friend.  To-day  there  is  more  reason 
for  the  teacher  to  assume  this  function  than  in 
earlier  times,  because  the  home  has  lost  much  of 


208  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

its  machinery  for  the  training  of  children.  But 
let  us  see  the  sort  of  development  which  parents  un- 
consciously gave  their  children  fifty  years  ago.* 

"I  begin  with  winter,  when  men's  industries  were 
most  diversified,  and  largely  in  wood/'  says  G. 
The  home  in  Stanley  Hall,  speaking  of  his  boy- 

education  fifty  hood  days.  "Lumber — or  tim- 
ber— trees  were  chopped  down 
and  cut  by  two  men  working  a  cross-cut  saw,  which 
was  always  getting  stuck  fast,  in  a  pinch  which 
took  the  set  out  of  it,  unless  the  whole  trunk  was 
pried  up  by  skids.  Sometimes  the  fallen  trees  were 
cut  into  logs,  snaked  together  and  piled  with  the 
aid  of  cant-hooks,  to  be  drawn  across  the  frozen 
pond  to  the  saw-mill  for  some  contemplated  build- 
ing, or,  if  of  spruce,  of  straight  grain  and  few 
knots,  or  of  good  rift,  they  were  cut  into  bolts, 
or  cross-sections  fifteen  inches  long,  which  was  the 
legal  length  for  shingles.  These  were  taken  home 
in  a  pung,  split  with  beetle  and  wedge,  and  then 
with  a  frow,  and  finished  off  with  a  drawshave 
on  a  shaving-horse,  itself  home-made.  .  .  .  Ax- 
helves,  too,  were  sawn,  split,  hewn,  whittled,  and 
scraped  into  shape  with  broken  glass,  and  the  form 
peculiar  to  each  local  maker  was  as  characteristic  as 
the  style  of  painter  or  poet,  and  was  widely  known, 
compared  and  criticized.  Butter-paddles  were  com- 
monly made  of  red  cherry,  while  sugar  lap  paddles 

*  Boy  Life  in  a  Massachusetts  Country  Town  Forty  Years 
Ago,  by  G.  Stanley  Hall.  Pedagogical  Seminary,  Vol.  13,  p. 
192. 


NEW  DEMANDS  ON  SCHOOLS      209 

were  made  by  merely  barking  whistle  wood  or  bass 
and  whittling  down  one  end  for  a  handle.  Mauls  and 
beetles  were  made  of  ash-knots,  ox-bows  of  walnut, 
held  in  shape  till  seasoned  by  withes  of  yellow  birch, 
from  which  also  birch  brushes  and  brooms  were 
manufactured  on  winter  evenings  by  stripping  down 
seams  of  wood  in  the  green.  There  were  salt  mor- 
tars and  pig-troughs  made  from  solid  logs,  with 
tools  hardly  more  effective  than  those  the  Indian 
uses  for  his  dug-out.  Flails  for  next  year's  thresh- 
ing, cheese-hoops  and  cheese-ladders ;  bread-troughs 
and  yokes  for  hogs  and  sheep,  and  pokes  for  jump- 
ing cattle,  horses  and  unruly  geese,  and  stanchions 
for  cows.  .  .  .  Repairs  were  made  during  this  sea- 
son, and  a  new  cat-hole  beside  the  door  with  a 
lateral  working  drop-lid,  which  the  cat  operated 
with  ease,  was  made  one  winter." 

All  of  these  activities  the  boys  saw  and  helped 
in  according  to  their  age  and  strength.  The  work 
Education  presented  obstacles  to  be  over- 

through  action  come  an(j  problems  to  be  solved 
which  called  for  thinking.  It  was  training  to  do 
things  by  doing  them;  and  one  of  the  duties  of 
educators  to-day  is  to  find  an  adequate  substitute 
for  the  home  training  of  this  earlier  period. 

Closely  connected  with  the  life  of  the  boys  of 
that  day  were  the  "hemlock  bows  and  arrows,  or 
cross-bows,  with  arrow-heads  run  on  with  melted 
lead  (for  which  every  scrap  of  lead  pipe  or  an- 
tique pewter  dish  was  in  great  demand)  often  fatal 


210  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

for  small  game;  box  and  figure  4  traps  for  rats 
and  squirrels;  wind-mills;  weather-vanes  in  the 
form  of  fish,  roosters  or  even  ships;  an  actual  saw- 
mill that  went  in  the  brook,  and  cut  planks  with 
marino  and  black  and  white  Carter  potatoes  for 
logs ;  and  many  whittled  tools,  toys  and  ornamental 
forms  and  puppets.  .  .  .  How  much  all  this  has  saved 
me  since,  in  the  laboratory,  in  daily  life  and  even 
in  the  study/'  continues  Doctor  Hall,  "it  would  be 
hard  to  estimate. 

"I  must  not  forget  the  rage  for  trapping  and 
hunting,  by  which  we  learned  much  of  the  habits 
of  crows,  hawks,  muskrats,  woodchucks,  squirrels, 
partridges  and  even  foxes,  and  which  made  us  ac- 
quainted with  wide  areas  of  territory.  .  .  .  We 
(the  younger  boys  of  about  ten)  made  collections 
for  the  whole  season,  of  wood,  leaves,  flowers, 
stones,  bugs,  butterflies,  etc." 

Broom  making,  with  its  preliminary  planting, 
breaking,  tabling  and  hatcheling,  watching  the  local 
tanner,  gunsmiths  and  basket  makers,  visiting  the 
cooper-shops,  carding  mills,  hovering  around  the 
turning  shops  to  see  how  they  made  wooden  spoons, 
bowls,  etc.,  not  to  mention  the  blacksmith  shops, 
harness  makers  and  shops  in  which  shoes  were  made 
and  not  merely  cobbled,  all  of  these  places  and  many 
more  helped  along  the  education  of  the  New  Eng- 
land boys  fifty  years  ago.  "I  know,"  says  Doctor 
Hall,  that  "I  could  make  soap,  maple  sugar,  a  pair  of 


NEW  DEMANDS  ON  SCHOOLS      211 

shoes,  braid  a  palm  leaf  hat,  spin,  put  in  and  weave 
a  piece  of  frocking  or  a  rag  carpet. 

"The  dull  days  in  haying  time  brought  another 
sort  of  education.  The  men  of  the  vicinity  strolled 
together  in  a  shed,  and,  sitting  on  a  tool  bench, 
grindstone,  manger,  wagons,  chopping  blocks,  and 
hog  spouts,  discussed  crop  prices,  ditching,  walling, 
salting  cattle,  finding  springs  with  witch  hazel,  taxes, 
the  preaching,"  etc.,  all  of  which  afforded  training 
in  common-sense  philosophy,  economics  and  citizen- 
ship. 

In  the  evening,  as  the  family  gathered  around 
the  stove,  or  the  old  fireplace,  stories  were  told  and 
books  were  read.  "A  pair  of  skates  was  earned 
by  a  boy  friend  one  winter  by  reading  the  entire 
Bible  through,  and  another  boy  bought  an  accordion 
with  money  earned  by  braiding  the  plain  sides  of 
palm-leaf  hats  where  no  splicing  was  needed,  for 
women  at  a  cent  per  side." 

The  farm  in  those  days  was  a  great  workshop 
and  laboratory  surrounded  by  a  limitless  range  of 

fields    and    woods    peopled   with 
The  farm  as  a 

workshop  and  innumerable  wild  animals  waiting 
laboratory  to  be  watched  or  caught.  It  was 

admirable  training  for  the  life  of  the  period  and 
not  so  bad  for  present  needs  could  we  but  imitate 
its  spontaneity. 

The  life  of  the  boy  to-day  compared  with  the 
freedom  to  construct,  to  plan,  to  think  and  grow 


212  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

Failure  of  modern  *n  those  earlier  days  is  like  that 
substitute  for  farm  of  the  wild  beast  in  captivity.  To 
be  sure  we  have  been  trying  lately  to  supply  the 
need,  but  our  efforts  have  been  hardly  more  suc- 
cessful than  the  "jungle"  in  the  New  York  Zoologi- 
cal Garden  by  which  it  was  thought  to  woo  the 
snakes  of  southern  swamps.  And  yet  this  va- 
riety of  activity  is  more  necessary  to-day  than  in 
former  times  because  of  the  constant  need  of  read- 
justment to  changing  conditions.  The  best  way  to 
make  adaptable,  versatile  men  is  to  make  construc- 
tive, creative  boys. 

We  have  said  that  the  present  age  is  character- 
ized by  change.  Trades,  when  not  abandoned,  are 
in  a  continual  state  of  alteration.  The  great  major- 
ity of  the  boys  who  go  out  from  the  schools  must 
find  their  livelihood  in  some  of  the  modest  occu- 
pations from  which  we  have  drawn  examples.  But 
let  us  see  if  the  situation  is  different  higher  up. 

The  president  and  general  manager  of  a  large 
electric  manufacturing  company  recently  told  the 
Facts  about  busi-  writer  that  his  business  is  chang- 
ness  failures  jng  an(j  expanding  so  fast  that 

his  greatest  difficulty  consists  in  finding  among  the 
thousand  in  his  employ  men  who  are  qualified  for 
the  various  grades  of  subordinate  executive  respon- 
sibility. "The  fundamental  limitation  of  the  ma- 
jority of  men,  from  the  standpoint  of  availability 
for  promotion,  consists/1  he  said,  "in  lack  of  ca- 
pacity to  adjust  themselves  to  new  requirements. 


NEW  DEMANDS  ON  SCHOOLS      213 

"Modern  business,"  he  continued,  "no  longer 
waits  for  men  to  qualify  after  promotion.  Through 
Imagination  anticipation  and  prior  preparation 

and  business  every    growing    man    must    be 

largely  ready  for  his  new  job  when  it  comes  to 
him.  I  find  very  few  individuals  making  any  effort 
to  think  out  better  ways  of  doing  things.  They 
do  not  anticipate  needs,  do  not  keep  themselves 
fresh  at  the  growing  point.  If  they  ever  had  any 
imagination  they  seem  to  have  lost  it  and  imagina- 
tion is  needed  in  a  growing  business,  for  it  is 
through  the  imagination  that  one  anticipates  future 
changes  and  so  prepares  for  them  before  they  come. 
Accordingly,  as  a  general  proposition,  the  selection 
of  a  man  for  a  vacancy  within  the  organization  is 
more  or  less  a  matter  of  guesswork.  Now  and 
then  an  ambitious,  wide-awake  young  man  works 
into  the  organization  and  in  a  very  short  time  is 
spotted  by  various  department  managers  for  future 
promotion,  but  the  number  of  such  individuals  is 
discouragingly  small.  The  difficulty  with  which  we 
are  always  confronted  is  that  our  business  grows 
faster  than  do  those  within  it.  The  men  do  not 
keep  up  with  our  changes.  The  business  grows 
away  from  them  and  quite  reluctantly  the  manage- 
ment is  frequently  compelled  to  go  outside  for  the 
necessary  material.  We  need,  at  the  present  time, 
four  or  five  subordinate  chiefs  in  various  parts  of 
the  factory  and  I  can  fill  none  of  them  satisfactorily 
from  material  in  hand." 


214  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

When  questioned  further,  this  same  man  said, 
"Capacity  to  vary  and  rapidly  to  readjust  one's  self 
Rapid  adjustment  to  new  and  changing  conditions 
essential  is  not  oniy  essential  to  the  busi- 

ness success  of  individuals  but  it  is  quite  as  nec- 
essary with  respect  to  the  business  itself."  He  then 
instanced  several  companies  which  ten  years  ago 
were  the  leaders  in  their  lines  but  which  have  fal- 
len far  behind  because  of  the  inability  of  the  man- 
agement to  anticipate  the  future  and  to  make  the 
necessary  readjustment.  One  of  these  companies 
did  not  see  the  significance  of  the  revolutionary 
advent  of  the  steam  turbine.  "The  management 
sat  by  while  other  companies  brought  it  to  a  suc- 
cessful commercial  basis.  There  is  no  standing- 
still  in  the  business  world  to-day.  Methods,  devices 
and  social  tendencies  in  general,  demand  a  constant 
evolution  upward  in  human  capacity  all  along  the 
line." 

The  manager  of  a  company  that  sells  heaters 
through  a  large  part  of  the  United  States  writes 
Other  types  that  when  he  assumed  control  he 

of  failure  secured  as  agents  men  who  had 

been  successful  in  selling  other  lines  of  goods.  He 
reasoned  that  selling  goods  was  much  the  same 
whatever  the  commodity.  In  any  line  of  salesman- 
ship the  agents  must  learn  to  meet  and  deal  with 
men  and  the  readaptation  necessary  with  the  change 
of  article  would  be  comparatively  easy.  So  he 
thought  it  out.  But  to  his  amazement  he  found 


NEW  DEMANDS  ON  SCHOOLS      215 

that  the  men  whom  he  employed  could  not  make 
even  this  slight  readjustment.  An  entire  year  was 
lost  by  the  company  in  getting  started. 

This  manager  mentioned  an  instance  of  incapac- 
ity for  readaptation  of  a  different  sort  from  those 
to  which  we  have  referred.  "A  man  who  had  for- 
merly held  a  railroad  position  in  which  he  had  been 
obliged  to  deal  with  men  and  convince  them  of 
the  value  of  his  propositions  undertook  to  sell 
heaters  to  school  boards.  He  was  an  unusually 
'good  mixer.'  He  made  friends  easily  and  kept 
them ;  but  he  could  not  handle  school  boards.  This 
man,  after  trying  all  summer,  with  a  wide  experi- 
ence in  dealing  with  men,  was  wholly  unable  to 
meet  a  situation  and  adjust  himself  to  it.  At  the 
end  of  the  season  he  gave  it  up. 

"There  is  no  question  in  my  mind,"  continues 
this  manager,  "that  mental  flexibility  is  absolutely 
Mental  flexibility  essential  to  a  young  man  who  ex- 
and  success  pects  to  become  active  in  the  busi- 

ness world.  Business  is  made  up  of  constantly 
changing  conditions  and  unexpected  situations.  One 
who  can  not  see  ahead  and  have  a  plan  for  a  new 
situation  before  it  comes  had  better  stay  out.  Every 
business  day  is  apt  to  bring  the  unexpected,  and 
the  man  who  is  not  ready,  who  has  not  the  re- 
sourcefulness to  adjust  himself  to  new  conditions, 
is  eventually  a  failure.  The  man  who  is  mentally 
flexible  and  who  studies  the  situations  and  looks 
into  the  future  is  a  success/' 


216  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

The  assistant  manager  of  the  system  of  street 
railways  in  one  of  the  three  or  four  of  our 
Problems  of  big  largest  cities  writes  as  follows : 
business  concerns  "All  large  employers  of  labor 
need  foremen  and,  in  factories  or  other  industries, 
departmental  heads.  It  is  desirable  that  these  fore- 
men be  not  only  well  grounded  in  the  particular 
work  which  they  supervise,  but  they  should,  in  ad- 
dition, have  some  executive  ability.  Since  few  men 
are  versatile  enough  or  sufficiently  equipped  for  the 
work  many  large  companies  have  training  schools 
in  which  instruction  is  freely  given  to  the  employees 
who  desire  to  avail  themselves  of  the  opportunity. 
The  hope  is  that  from  among  the  many  who  take  the 
instruction  a  sufficient  number  will  develop  the  ver- 
satility necessary  for  some  of  the  executive  posi- 
tions. 

"Another  problem  which  employers  of  large  num- 
bers of  men  must  meet  is  to  keep  good  men.  An 
employer  can  not  afford  to  be  continually  breaking 
in  a  wholly  new  outfit  of  men.  There  must  be 
some  permanency  to  his  organization.  This  is  one 
of  the  cases  in  which  the  manager  must  be  versa- 
tile. To  meet  this  need  the  following  plans  have 
been  put  into  effect  by  many  of  the  large  employ- 
ers of  labor,  (i)  A  purchasing  system;  (2)  an 
employees'  relief  association  which  furnishes  medi- 
cal and  hospital  attention  to  sick  employees;  (3) 
a  cooperative  purchasing  system  by  means  of  which 
employees  have  the  benefit  of  the  purchasing 


NEW  DEMANDS  ON  SCHOOLS      217 

power  of  a  large  corporation;  (4}  a  loan  depart- 
ment; (5)  a  legal  department;  (6)  entertainments, 
such  as  baseball  teams,  basket-ball  teams,  dances,  am- 
ateur vaudeville,  bands,  orchestras,  glee  clubs,  pic- 
nics, etc.  The  company  which  I  represent  has  in  oper- 
ation all  of  these  except  the  relief  association  and 
the  purchasing  department.  These  matters  have  been 
under  consideration  for  some  time  and  it  is  prob- 
able that  in  the  near  future  the  plans  will  be  put 
into  effect.  We  have  built  a  large  entertainment 
hall  which  is  free  for  the  use  of  our  employees. 

"A  street  railway  system,  like  all  other  modern 
business,  is  constantly  changing.  New  problems 
are  continually  arising  and  the  old  ones  never  die. 
Among  those  with  which  we  are  always  confronted 
are  problems  in  car  construction,  with  improvement 
in  electric  motors  and  railway  trucks,  changes  in 
track  construction,  which  involve  improvement  in 
paving  material  and  new  kinds  of  road  beds  to- 
gether with  a  complete  revolution  in  the  method 
of  track  laying.  These  are  only  illustrations  of 
the  changes  that  are  always  going  on.  Many  more 
might  be  named." 

One  of  the  partners  in  a  large  wholesale  grocery 
house  also  writes  that  changes  and  readjustment  of 

Changes  in  whole-  one  sort  or  another  ar^  continu- 
sale  grocery  ally  forced  on  his  firm.  A  large 

number  of  commodities  which 
formerly  were  among  their  "best  sellers"  have  been 
taken  from  them  and  are  now  sold  directly  to  the 


218  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

consumer  by  the  importers  or  manufacturers.  To 
offset  this  loss  the  wholesale  grocer  has  been  obliged 
to  add  articles  which,  a  few  years  ago,  were  handled 
exclusively  by  wholesale  dry-goods  houses  and  by 
drug  and  hardware  firms.  "To  name  only  a  few 
items,  cotton  gloves,  hosiery,  spool  cotton,  stable 
drugs,  patent  medicines,  ammunition,  nails,  wire 
and  even  sewing-machines  are  sold  by  the  whole- 
sale grocer."  The  fact  that  the  coffee,  tea  and 
spice  business  has  in  a  large  measure  been  taken 
away  from  the  wholesale  grocer,  that  sugar  refi- 
neries and  tobacco  companies  are  selling  their  goods 
directly  to  the  retailer,  and  that  manufacturers  are 
more  and  more  eliminating  the  wholesaler  "has 
brought  about  the  curious  result  that  the  wholesale 
grocer  now  carries  a  greater  variety  of  other  goods 
than  he  does  of  groceries."  All  of  these  changes 
naturally  deprived  wholesale  grocers  of  commod- 
ities with  the  details  of  which  they  were  familiar, 
and  compelled  them  to  investigate  and  find  a  mar- 
ket for  other  articles  to  take  their  place. 

Again,  in  earlier  years,  the  purchaser  sought  the 
seller,  now  the  seller  must  seek  the  purchaser.  As 
a  result  of  this  the  jobber  "no  longer  owns  his 
trade.  This  is  in  a  real  sense  the  personal  property 
of  the  salesmen  who  take  their  customers  with  them 
when  they  change  from  one  wholesale  house  to 
another."  In  this'  way  a  jobber  may  lose  an  en- 
tire  territory  in  a  day  and  then  he  is  confronted; 
with  the  problem  of  regaining  it  or  of  finding  a 


NEW  DEMANDS  ON  SCHOOLS      219 

new  territory  to  take  its  place.  "The  difficulties 
of  winning  back  the  customers  who  have  been  taken 
to  another  house  are  usually  insurmountable  because, 
while  formerly  the  relation  between  the  jobber  and 
retailer  was  a  close  and  personal  one,  to-day  they 
are  unacquainted." 

The  changes  in  the  woodenware  business  are 
startling  in  their  explosive  swiftness.  The  follow- 
Changes  in  wood-  ™g  letter  from  the  senior  mem- 
cnware  business  ber  o£  one  of  the  largest  com- 
panies shows  how  truly  "eternal  vigilance  is  the 
price  of  profits." 

"Thirty  years  ago,"  the  writer  says,  "when  I 
entered  the  woodenware  business  it  was  strictly  a 
jobbing  proposition,  selling  to  both  wholesalers  and 
retailers.  Our  trade  was  largely  in  items  of  wood 
together  with  many  small  articles  known  as 
'Yankee  notions/  and  brboms,  the  last  of  which  was 
one  of  our  most  important  articles.  This  continued 
for  about  twenty  years,  when  a  merry  run  of  busi- 
ness changes  began.  First,  the  wholesalers  through- 
out the  country  took  the  position  that  if  we  sold 
to  them  we  must  not  sell  to  the  retail  trade.  After 
five  years  of  struggle  we  yielded.  Then  five  years 
later  the  wholesalers  cut  us  out  of  their  business 
entirely  and  began  to  buy  directly  from  the  factory. 

"Although  we  had  never  engaged  in  manufac- 
turing we  now  saw  that  we  must  make  that  change 
or  be  left  behind.  Now,  starting  factories  for  many 
articles  is  expensive  business.  So  we  tried  to  look 


220  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

into  the  future  and  see  which  of  our  articles  had 
the  best  prospects.  Finally  we  selected  several, 
among  which  were  paper  bags  and  galvanized  iron 
tubs  and  pails  that  were  then  just  beginning  to 
replace  the  wooden  articles.  As  a  result  of  manu- 
facturing paper  bags  our  sales  in  this  item  alone 
increased  more  than  twelve  times. 

"School  slates,  a  large  item  in  our  business,  gave 
way  to  paper  tablets  which  we  were  forced  to  man- 
ufacture. Our  sales  of  this  one  article  now  amount 
to  about  $200,000  annually. 

"These  are  only  a  few  of  the  many  changes  that 
are  in  continual  progress.  Business  is  never  sta- 
tionary. When  it  is  the  end  is  near.  We  must 
constantly  watch  the  market  and  try  to  discover 
a  little  of  what  the  future  is  sending  us.  If  we 
fail  in  our  interpretation  more  versatile  men  get 
the  business." 

These  illustrations  are  probably  enough  to  estab- 
lish the  truth  of  the  statements,  a  few  pages  back, 
that  change  is  the  order  of  the  day  and  that  the 
only  certainty  in  business  is  its  uncertainty. 

"Efficiency"  and  "scientific  management,"  so 
much  talked  of  to-day,  originated  in  the  need  for 

industrial  readjustment  of  which 
How  scientific  . 

management  we    have    been    speaking.      The 

works  out  simplest  plan,  when  a  manufac- 

turer finds  it  necessary  to  reduce  the  cost  of  making 
his  product,  is  to  lower  wages.  This  requires  no 
intelligence  and  for  that  reason  is  the  common 


NEW  DEMANDS  ON  SCHOOLS      221 

method.  Taylor,  however,  has  found*  that  effi- 
ciency, which  is  synonymous  with  low  labor  cost, 
pays  higher  wages,  and  the  investigations  of  N. 
I.  Stone,  formerly  Chief  Statistician  of  the  Tariff 
Board,  support  this  view.  "Almost  invariably  the 
(woolen)  mills  paying  higher  wages  per  hour 
showed  lower  costs  than  their  competitors  with 
lower  wages.  Thus,  in  wool  scouring  the  lowest 
average  wages  paid  to  machine  operatives  in  the 
thirty  mills  examined  was  found  to  be  12.16  cents 
per  hour,  and  the  highest  17.79.  Yet  the  low  wage 
mill  showed  a  labor  cost  of  twenty-one  cents  per 
hundred  pounds  of  wool,  while  the  higher  wage 
mill  had  a  cost  of  only  fifteen  cents  per  hundred."! 
Again,  "in  the  carding  departments  of  seventeen 
worsted  mills,  the  mill  paying  its  machine-opera- 
tives an  average  wage  of  13.18  cents  per  hour  had 
a  machine  labor  cost  of  four  cents  per  hundred 
pounds,  while  the  mill  paying  its  machine-opera- 
tives only  11.86  cents  per  hour,  had  a  cost  of 
twenty-five  cents  per  hundred  pounds." 

Even    more    astounding    was    the    inefficiency 
found  in  the  carding  departments  of  twenty-six 

woolen  mills.    "The  mill  with  the 
Further  details         ,  .  , 

highest  machine  output  per  man 

per  hour,  namely  57.7  pounds,  had  a  machine-labor 
cost  of  twenty-three  cents  per  hundred  pounds, 
while  the  mill  with  a  machine  output  of  only  six 

*  The  Principles  of  Scientific  Management,  by  Frederick 
W.  Taylor. 

t  Century  Magazine,  Vol.  86,  May,  1913,  p.  113. 


222  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

pounds  per  operative  per  hour  had  a  cost  of  $1.64 
per  hundred  pounds.  Yet  this  mill,  with  a  cost 
seventeen  times  higher  than  the  other,  paid  its  op- 
eratives only  9.86  cents  per  hour,  as  against  13.09 
cents  per  hour  paid  by  its  more  successful  com- 
petitor." 

Taylor  found  on  investigating  the  unscientific 
act  of  shoveling  that  the  same  shovel  was  used 
A  result  of  ineffi-  for  iron  ore  as  for  rice  coal.  In 
cient  method  the  former  case  the  workmen 

shoveled  a  load  of  thirty  pounds  and  in  the  latter 
four  pounds,  an  absurdity  on  the  face  of  it.  Yet 
this  inefficient  method  had  been  employed  for  years 
without  attracting  the  attention  of  the  foremen  or 
of  the  educated  managers  in  the  office. 

The  result  of  Taylor's  reorganization  of  the  ways 
of  doing  things  in  the  Bethlehem  Steel  Company 
A  result  of  scien-  was  a  saving  during  the  first  year 
tific  management  of  $36,417.69  and  during  the  six 
months  following,  "the  saving  was  at  the  rate  of 
between  $75,000  and  $80,000  per  year";  and  the 
workmen  were  earning  higher  wages. 

Whatever  else  may  be  included  in  the  meaning 
of  efficiency  it  is  evident  from  the  concrete  evi- 
Education  for  dence  on  every  side  that  versa- 
efficiency  tility — capacity  for  new  adapta- 

tions and  the  ability  to  see  a  little  way  ahead  and 
to  employ  one's  knowledge  in  solving  problems  that 
arise — must  not  be  omitted.  The  really  needful 
thing  is  to  train  children  to  be  efficient  rather  than 


NEW  DEMANDS  ON  SCHOOLS      223 

to  find  jobs  for  them  for  which  they  are  not  fitted. 
This  is  the  way  in  which  the  Commissioner  sum- 
marizes a  recent  report  on  vocational  training*  pub- 
lished by  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education. 

As  to  the  method  of  training  for  efficiency,  the 
way  is  not  so  uncertain  if  we  may  judge  from  the 
Successful  human  documents,  given  in  the 

methods  first  chapter,  of  the  men  who 

have  tried  to  analyze  their  boyhood  feelings,  and 
from  the  experimental  organizations  for  group- 
work  which  have  been  cited.  The  motive  power  is 
given  in  the  racial  impulses  which  drive  children 
with  irresistible  force  to  action.  The  problem  is 
then  simplified.  The  teacher  does  not  need  to  cre- 
ate interest,  in  the  work.  Enough  enthusiasm  is 
present  in  every  school  to  furnish  power  to  run 
a  hundred  educational  plants.  The  teacher's  func- 
tion is  to  divert  this  flow  of  racial  energy  into 
social  and  industrial  channels.  How  this  may  be 
done  has  been  indicated  by  the  experiments  of  ear- 
lier chapters.  We  have  seen  that  children  want  to 
do  things  for  themselves.  What  they  do  and  what 
they  manage  does  not  matter  much  as  far  as  the 
available  energy  is  concerned.  They  must  feel, 
however,  that  the  work  is  theirs,  that  they  are  re- 
sponsible for  it  and  that  the  glory  of  its  success 
is  theirs. 

In  striving  to  produce  versatility,  however,  it  is 

^Vocational  Education  Survey,  by  Miss  Alice  B.  Barrows* 
Bureau  of  Education,  1913. 


224  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

important  that  children  engage  in  activities  which 
have  not  been  mechanized  with  rules.  This  is  pio- 
neering and  pioneers  work  their  way  through  un- 
known obstacles  overcoming  difficulties  as  they 
arise.  Under  these  conditions  real  problems  exist 
— problems  that  relish  because  no  one,  not  even 
the  teacher,  knows  the  solution.  The  uncertainty 
of  such  problems  or  situations  gives  the  flavor  of 
adventure  which  answers  a  call  of  youth  and 
awakens  zeal  for  achievement.  The  problems  of 
the  school  are  usually  artificial  constructions.  The 
children  are  aware  that  the  teacher  knows  their 
solution  and  this  deprives  them  of  the  impelling 
force  that  incites  to  action  in  the  real  difficulties 
of  the  outside  world.  In  earlier  chapters  we  have 
shown  how  some  teachers  have  tried  to  produce 
living  problems  in  their  school. 

This  gives  the  cue  for  making  children  intelli- 
gent, constructive  workers  instead  of  submissive 
Originality  and  followers.  Versatility  and  effi- 
cfficiency  ciency  are  not  the  offspring  of 

imitation.  Originality  is  needed  and  this  quality 
of  mind  is  acqtilreth  only  in  an  environment  that 
encourages  its  growth.  The  crude  matrix  from 
which  initiative  may  develop  we  have  found  in  the 
instincts  for  group-action,  workmanship  and  plan- 
ning, but  their  application  to  social  ends  must  be 
learned  by  the  individual  through  acts  stimulated 
by  his  desire  to  work  out  definite  social  projects. 
Contriving  conditions  which  shall  inevitably  arouse 


NEW  DEMANDS  ON  SCHOOLS      225 

in  children  the  impulse  to  meet  difficulties  by  plans 
which  they  themselves  originate  raises  teachers  to 
their  proper  sphere  of  action,  that  of  guide  and 
helper  instead  of  driver. 

Children,  in  managing  situations  thus  created, 
are  learning  to  interpret  conditions  that  arise  and 

are  developing:  a  versatility  that 
Conclusion  . 

prepares    them   to   meet    similar 

problems  in  the  larger  outside  world  where  ex- 
perience is  dearer  and  failure  more  disastrous.  In 
a  school  thus  organized  the  pupils  are  dealing  with 
situations  of  actual  life  instead  of  with  the  arti- 
ficial conditions  fabricated  by  traditional  peda- 
gogy. They  learn  to  devise  ways  and  means  of 
overcoming  obstacles  and  they  profit  from  their 
mistakes.  This  is  training  in  versatility,  and  it  is 
quite  different  from  having  the  school  life  laid  out 
in  assignments,  rules  and  prohibitions.  According 
to  the  usual  method  the  teacher  plans  the  work  and 
the  pupils  regulate  the  amount  of  energy  they  put 
into  it  with  marvelous  nicety  by  the  "passing  mark." 
This  is  the  most  prominent  standard  of  excellence 
and  so  the  children  adapt  their  attainments  to  it. 
The  stimulus  for  a  high  grade  of  efficiency,  which 
we  have  found  in  organized  group-work,  is  absent. 
There  is  no  incentive  to  versatility  because  con- 
formity to  the  common  type  is  popular.  Whatever 
intellectual  competition  there  may  be  is  on  a  low 
level  and  mediocrity  is  not  a  stimulating  environ- 
ment for  the  production  of  versatile  minds. 


226   f         LEARNING  BY  DOING 

When,  on  the  other  hand,  schools  are  organized 
into  groups  of  pupils  banded  together  for  purposes 
which  the  children  themselves  have  conceived,  with 
the  aid  of  tactful  suggestions  from  their  teachers, 
they  are  alert  to  excel,  to  produce  something  new, 
to  be  different  from  their  fellows.  This  is  a  fertile 
environment  for  versatility  and  efficiency.  Each 
one  has  a  plan  to  offer  to  meet  the  difficulties  that 
arise  in  achieving  what  they  have  set  themselves 
to  do.  The  enthusiasm  of  the  many  stirs  the  few 
laggards.  Laziness  is  at  a  discount  and  work  at 
a  premium.  The  children  learn  by  doing  because 
those  who  accomplish  things  are  held  in  high  es- 
teem among  their  companions.  The  standard  to 
which  the  pupils  make  their  adaptation  is  achieve- 
ment which  never  lets  them  rest  satisfied.  The 
customary  method  seeks  to  train  children  for  adult 
life.  The  plan  here  urged  trains  them  in  living 
while  they  are  yet  in  school. 


THE   END 


REFERENCES  FOR  FURTHER 
READING 


REFERENCES  FOR  FURTHER 
READING 


CHAPTER  I 

Aldrich,  Thomas  Bailey — The  Story  of  a  Bad  Boy. 
Boston.  Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 

Alexander,  J.  L.  —  Boy  Training.  New  York 
(1911)  Y.  M.  C.  A. 

Burbank,  Luther — Cidtivate  Children  Like  Flow- 
ers. Elementary  School  Teacher,  vol.  6,  p. 

457- 
Conover,    James    P.  —  Personality   in   Education. 

New  York  (1908)  Moffatt,  Yard  &  Co. 
Denison,    Elsa — Helping   School   Children.      New 

York  (1912)  Harper  Bros. 
Forbush,  William  B. — The  Boy  Problem.     (1902) 

Pilgrim  Press. 
George,  William  R. — The  Junior  Republic.     New 

York  (1911)   Appleton  &  Co. 
Grahame,  Kenneth — The  Golden  Age.    New  York 

(1904)'. 
Gruenberg,   Sidonic  M. — Your  Child  To-day  and 

To-morrow.     Philadelphia  (1913)  J.  B.  Lip- 

pincott  Co. 

229 


230  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

Holmes,  Arthur — Conservation  of  Children.  Phil- 
adelphia (1912)'  J.  B.  Lippincott  Co. 

Holmes  William  H. — School  Organization  and  the 
Individual  Child.  Worcester,  Mass.  (1912) 
Davis  Press. 

Hyde,  William  DeWitt— The  Quest  of  the  Best. 
New  York  (1913)  Thomas  Y.  Crowell  Co. 

McKeever,  William  A. — Training  the  Boy.  New 
York  (1913)  Macmillan  Company. 

Mero,  Everett  B. — American  Playgrounds.  Bos- 
ton (1908)  American  Gymnasium  Co. 

Puffer,  J.  Adams — The  Gang.  Boston  (1912) 
Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 

Richman,  Julia — The  Incorrigible  Boy.  Educa- 
tional Review,  vol.  31,  p.  484. 

Steffens,  Lincoln — Ben  B.  Lindsay:  The  Just  Judge. 
McClure's  Magazine,  vol.  27,  p.  563 ;  vol.  28, 
p.  74. 

Swift,  Edgar  James — Youth  cmd  the  Race.  New 
York  (1912)  Charles  Scribner's  Sons.  Chap- 
ters I  and  VII. 

Thorndike,  Edward  L. — The  Original  Nature  of 
Man.  New  York  (1913)  Columbia  Univer- 
sity Press. 

Tyler,  John  M. — Growth  and  Education.  Boston 
(1907)  Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 

Weimer,  Hermann  W. — The  Way  to  the  Heart  of 
the  Pupil.  New  York  (1913)  The  Macmil- 
lan Co. 


REFERENCES  231 


CHAPTER  II 

Baldwin,  Martha  J. — How  Children  Study.  'Ar- 
chives of  Psychology,  no.  12,  March  (1909) 
p.  65. 

Dewey  John — Interest  and  Effort  in  Education. 
Boston  (1913)  Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 

King,  Irving — Social  Aspects  of  Education.  New 
York  (1912)  The  Macmillan  Co. 

O'Shea,  M.  V. — Social  Development  and  Educa- 
tion. Boston  (1909)  Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 

Reavis,  William  C. — Some  Factors  That  Determine 
the  Habits  of  Study  of  Grade  Pupils.  Ele- 
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Report  of  School  Inquiry  Committee,  City  of  New 
York. 

Report  of  the  Ohio  State  School  Survey  Commis- 
sion. 

Report  of  the  Survey  Committee  on  School  Dis- 
trict No.  I,  City  of  Portland,  Oregon. 

Report  of  the  Survey  Committee  on  the  school  sys- 
tem of  East  Orange,  New  Jersey. 

Scott,  Colin  A. — Social  Education.  Boston  (1908) 
Ginn  &  Co. 

Stevens,  Romiett — The  Question  as  a  Measure  of 
Efficiency  in  Instruction.  New  York  (191 2)' 
Columbia  University  Press. 

Swift,  Edgar  James — Mind  in  the  Making.  New 
York  (1908)  Charles  Scribner's  Sons.  Chap- 


232  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

ters  I,  III,  IX.  Youth  and  the  Race.  New 
York  (1912)  Charles  Scribner's  Sons.  Chap- 
ter VIII. 

Thorndike,     Edward    L". — Individuality.       Boston 
(1911)  Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 


CHAPTER  III 

Anonymous — An  Experiment  in  Self -Government. 

Elementary  School  Teacher,  vol.  3,  p.  261. 
Breslich,  Ernest  R. — Teaching  High  School  Pupils 

How  to  Study.    School  Review,  vol.  20,  p.  505. 
Browning,  Lucy  E. — The  Group  Idea  versus  the 

Grade  in  the  Elementary  School.    Elementary 

School  Teacher,  vol.  7,  p.  72. 
Clark,  Lotta  A. — Group-Work  in  the  High  School. 

Elementary  School  Teacher,  vol.  7,  p.  335. 
Demolins,  Edmond — L'ecole  des  Roches.    Elemen- 
tary School  Teacher,  vol.  6,  p.  227. 
Earhart,   Lida   B. — Teaching   Children   to   Study. 

Boston  (1909)  Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 
Gibbs,  Louis  R. — Making  a  High  School  a  Center 

of  Social  Life.     School  Review,  vol.   17,  p. 

634. 
Gordon,    Margery — An   Experiment  in    Teaching 

First  Year  Composition.    School  Review,  vol. 

14,  p.  671. 
Gray,  Mason  D. — A  Modern  Roman  State.    School 

Review,  vol.  14,  pp.  296  and  357. 


REFERENCES  233 

Johnson,  Franklin  W. — The  Social  Organization  of 
the  High  School.  School  Review,  vol.  17,  p. 
665. 

Knowlton,  D.  C. — An  Athenian  "Assembly:  "An  Ex- 
periment in  History  Teaching.  School  Re- 
view, vol.  1 8,  p.  481. 

McMurry,  F.  M. — How  to  Study  and  Teaching 
How  to  Study.  Boston  (1909}  Houghton 
Mifflin  Co. 

Suzzalo,  Henry  —  Education  as  a  Social  'Study. 
School  Review,  vol.  16,  p.  330. 

Wells,  C.  B. — Some  Experiments  in  Group-Work. 
Elementary  School  Teacher,  vol.  7,  p.  329. 


CHAPTER  IV 

Book,  W.  F. — The  Psychology  of  Skill.  Univer- 
sity of  Montana  Monograph,  no.  53. 

Cleveland,  Alfred  A. — The  Psychology  of  Chess 
and  of  Learning  to  Play  it.  American  Journal 
of  Psychology,  vol.  18,  p.  269. 

Dearborn,  W.  F. — Experiments  in  Learning.  Jour- 
nal of  Educational  Psychology,  vol.  I,  p.  373. 

Leuba,  J.  H.,  and  Hyde,  Winefred — An  Experi- 
ment in  Learning  to  Make  Hand  Movements. 
Psychological  Review,  vol.  12,  p.  351. 

Munn,  Abbie  F. — The  Curve  of  Learning.  Ar- 
chives of  Psychology,  no.  12,  (1909)  p.  36. 


234  j  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

Ordahl,  Louise  E. — Consciousness  in  Relation  to 
Learning.  American  Journal  of  Psychology, 
vol.  22,  p.  158. 

Richardson,  R.  F. — The  Learning  Process  in  the 
'Acquisition  of  Skill.  Pedagogical  Seminary, 
vol.  19,  376. 

Ruger,  Henry  A. — The  Psychology  of  Efficiency. 
Archives  of  Psychology,  no.  15,  (1910)  p.  i. 

Starch,  Daniel — A  Demonstration  of  the  Trial  and 
Error  Method  of  Learning.  Psychological 
Bulletin,  vol.  7,  p.  20. 

Swift,  Edgar  James — Mind  in  the  Making.  New 
York  (1908)  Charles  Scribner's  Sons.  Chap- 
ter VI.  Studies  in  the  Psychology  and  Physi- 
ology of  Learning.  American  Journal  of  Psy- 
chology, vol.  14,  p.  201.  The  Acquisition  of 
Skill  in  Type-writing.  Psychological  Bulletin, 
vol.  i,  p.  295.  Beginning  a  Language.  (Stud- 
ies in  Philosophy  and  Psychology.)  Boston 
(1906)  Houghton  Mifflin  Co.  The  Learning 
Process  (Swift  and  Schuyler)  Psychological 
Bulletin,  vol.  4,  p.  307. 

Thorndike,  Edward  L. — The  Psychology  of  Learn- 
ing. New  York  (1913)  Columbia  University 

Press. 

i 

CHAPTER  V 

Bean,  C.  H. — The  Curve  of  Forgetting.  Archives 
of  Psychology,  no.  21  (1912)  p.  I. 


REFERENCES  235 

Bogg,  E.  Pearl — The  Question  in  the  Learning 
Process.  Journal  of  Philosophy,  Psychology 
and  Scientific  Method,  vol.  5,  p.  239. 

Book,  W.  F. — The  Role  of  the  Teacher  in  Most 
Expeditious  and  Economic  Learning.  Journal 
of  Educational  Psychology,  vol.  i,  p.  183. 

Jones,  Elmer  E. — Individual  Differences  in  School 
Children.  Psychological  Clinic,  vol.  6,  p.  241. 

Meyerhardt,  M.  W. — Economical  Learning.  Peda- 
gogical Seminary,  vol.  13,  p.  145. 

Ogden,  Robert  M. — Memory  and  the  Economy  of 
Learning.  Psychological  Bulletin,  vol.  I,  p. 
177. 

Pyle,  W.  H. — Economical  Learning.  Journal  of 
Educational  Psychology,  vol.  4,  p.  148. 

Simpson,  B.  R. — Correlation  of  Mental  Abilities. 
New  York  (1913)  Columbia  University  Press. 

Starch,  Daniel — Periods  of  Work  in  Learning. 
Journal  of  Educational  Psychology,  vol.  3,  p. 
209. 

Swift,  Edgar  James — Memory  of  a  Skilful  Act. 
American  Journal  of  Psychology,*  vol.  16,  p. 
131.  Memory  of  Skilful  Movements.  The 
Psychological  Bulletin,  vol.  3,  p.  185.  Re- 
learning  a  Skilful  Act.  'Psychological  Bulletin, 
vol.  7,  p.  17. 

Thorndike,  Edward  L. — Mental  Work  and  Fatigue. 
New  York  (1914)  Columbia  University  Press. 


236  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

CHAPTER  VI 

Andrews,  B.  R. — Habit.  'American  Journal  of  Psy- 
chology, vol.  14,  p.  121. 

Angell,  James  R.,  and  Moore,  A.  W. — A  Study  m 
Attention  and  Habit.  Psychological  Review, 
vol.  13,  p.  245. 

Barrett,  E.  Boyd — Motive  Force  and  Motivation- 
Tracks.  New  York  (1911)  Longman,  Green 
&Co. 

Bean,  A.  W. — Habit  and  Progress.    Mind,  vol.  n, 

P-  343; 

James,  William — The  Laws  of  Habit.  Popular 
Science  Monthly,  vol.  30,  p.  433.  Talks  to 
Teachers  on  Psychology.  New  York  (1901) 
Henry  Holt  &  Co.,  p.  64. 

Reavis,  William  C. — Some  Factors  that  Determine 
the  Habits  of  Study  of  Grade-Pupils.  Ele- 
mentary School  Teacher,  vol.  12,  p.  71.  The 
Importance  of  a  Study  Program  for  High 
School  Pupils.  School  Review,  vol.  19,  p.  398. 

Rowe,  Stuart  H. — Habit  Formation.  New  York 
(1909)  The  Macmillan  Co. 

Swift,  Edgar  James — Mind  in  the  Making.  New 
York  (1908)  Charles  Scribner's  Sons.  Chap- 
ter III.  Youth  and  the  Race.  New  York 
(1912)  Charles  Scribner's  Sons.  Chapter  III. 
The  Passing  of  the  Dunce.  Harper's  Monthly, 

VOl.    122,   p.   284. 


REFERENCES  237 


CHAPTER  VII 

Caldwell,  Ottis  W. — The  Laboratory  Method  and 

High    School    Efficiency.      Popular    Science 

Monthly,  vol.  82,  p.  243. 
Carman,  George  N.- — Cooperation  of  School  and 

Shop     in    Promoting     Industrial     Efficiency. 

School  Revieiv,  vol.  18,  p.  108. 
Fernald,  G.  Guy — An  Achievement  Capacity  Test. 

Journal  of  Educational  Psychology,  vol.  3,  p. 

331- 

Emerson,  Harrington — The  Twelve  Principles  of 
Efficiency.  New  York  (1912)  Engineering 
Magazine. 

Hall,  G.  Stanley — Boy  Life  in  Massachusetts  Coun- 
try Towns  Forty  Years  Ago.  Pedagogical 
Seminary,  vol.  13,  p.  192. 

Halleck,  Reuben  Post — What  Kind  of  Education 
is  Best  Suited  to  Boys.  School  Review,  vol. 
14,  p.  512. 

Hunter,  W.  B. — The  Fitchburg  Plan  of  Industrial 
Education.  School  Review,  vol.  18,  p.  166. 

Leake,  Albert  H. — Industrial  Education:  Its  Prob- 
lems, Methods  and  Dangers.  Boston  (1913) 
Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 

Miinsterberg,  Hugo — Psychology  and  Industrial 
Efficiency.  Boston  (1913)  Houghton  Mifflin 
Co. 


238  LEARNING  BY  DOING 

Person,  Harlow  S. — The  Ideal  Organisation  of  a 
System  of  Secondary  Schools  to  Provide  Vo- 
cational Training.  School  Review,  vol.  17,  p. 
404. 

Rynearson,  Edward — Cooperation  of  the  Business 
Men  of  Pittsburg  with  the  Commercial  De- 
partment of  the  High  School.  School  Review, 
vol.  18,  p.  333. 

Snedden,  David — Problems  of  Educational  Read- 
justment. Boston  (I9I3J  Houghton  Mifflin 
Co. 

Swift,  Edgar  James — Mind  in  the  Making.  New 
York  (1908)  Charles  Scribner's  Sons.  Chap- 
ter IX.  Man's  Educational  Reconstruction  of 
Nature.  Popular  Science  Monthly,  vol.  72,  p. 
269. 

Taylor,  F.  W. — The  Principles  of  Scientific  Man- 
agement. New  York  (1911)  Harper  &  Bros. 

Tuck  School  Conference.  Hanover  (1912)  Dart- 
mouth College. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


ACTION:  demand  of  childhood  for,  11,  12,  15-17,  20,  27,  33, 
34,  188,  197;  and  education,  20,  30,  32,  70,  77,  99,  138, 
140,  209,  223;  and  Boy  Scout  movement,  186,  187;  and 
pupil-government,  187,  189.  See  ADVENTURE,  RACIAL 
INSTINCTS. 

ADAPTABILITY:  illustration  of,  41-43;  not  same  as  ca- 
price, 44;  a  characteristic  of  childhood,  46,  149. 

ADAPTATION:  and  economy  of  effort,  46;  and  habits, ^46, 
49;  school  study  and,  59;  continued  resistance  to,  im- 
possible, 180;  aided  by  school  organization,  191;  and 
animal  education,  198,  199;  and  progress,  199,  200;  dif- 
ference between  animal  and  human,  201 ;  and  education, 
202;  and  business  success,  212-215. 

ADJUSTMENT.    See  ADAPTATION. 

ADVENTURE:  quest  for,  1,  2,  15-17,  20,  29;  books  of,  6; 
and  sports,  7;  adult  misunderstanding  of,  5,  10,  11,  15, 
16,  17,  18,  31,  34;  adult  recall  of,  10-18;  utilization  of 
spirit  of,  12,  14,  19,  32,  99;  among  girls,  18-20;  and 
crime,  21,  22,  29;  outlets  for  spirit  ©f,  22,  28,  30,  99,  224; 
truancy  and,  30;  experience  in  terms  of,  33.  See  also 
ACTION,  RACIAL  INSTINCTS. 

ARITHMETIC:  effect  of  physical  fitness  in  learning,  143; 
in  relation  to  study  of  geography,  145 ;  on  teaching,  153, 
162,  163 ;  and  plateaus,  105. 

ASSOCIATIONS:  time  necessary  for  fixing,  127;  the  harm 
from  wrong,  142;  interfering,  154,  156,  161. 

ATHENIAN  ASSEMBLY.  See  EXPERIMENT  IN  TEACHING 
GREEK  HISTORY. 

ATTENTION:  a  test  of,  50;  in  relation  to  plateaus,  126; 
causes  of  fluctuation  in,  141;  an  attitude  unfavorable 
to,  147. 

AUTOMATISM.    See  HABITS. 

BAGEHOT,  WALTER:  on  breaking  habits,   181,   182;  on 

arrested  civilization,  168. 

BAIR,  on  higher  and  lower  orders  of  habits,  123. 
BALDWIN,  MISS  MARTHA,  on  how  children  study,  52. 
BARRETT,  E.  BOYD,  on  dangers  of  automatic  habits,  183. 
BERGSTROM,  on  habit,  156. 

241 


242  INDEX 

BILLINGS,  JOSH,  on  thinking,  69. 

BOLTON,  T.  L.,  on  memory,  155. 

BOOK:  on  higher  and  lower  orders  of  habits,  123;  on  pla- 
teaus, 126;  on  relation  of  efficiency  and  mental  and  bod- 
ily states,  141 ;  on  interference  of  associations,  156. 

BOY  SCOUT  MOVEMENT,  significance  of,  186,  187. 

BRYAN  AND  HARTER,  on  higher  and  lower  orders  of 
habits,  122. 

BURBANK,  LUTHER,  on  variability,  37. 

BUSINESS  HOUSES:  problems  of,  216-220;  reasons  for 
failure  in,  212-214.  See  Chap.  VII. 

CARNEGIE  FOUNDATION,  report  of  on  Vermont  schools, 

23,  203.    See  SCHOOLS,  SURVEYS. 
CHANGE:    characteristic  of  age,  204-206,  212,  214,  217-220; 

indispensable  to  productive  thinking,   175.     See  Chap. 

CLEVELAND,  on  cause  of  plateaus,  125. 

COMPOSITION,  an  experiment  in,  72-76. 

CONSERVATISM:  and  habit,  168;  illustrated  by  history, 
169;  its  relation  to  fixed  conditions,  170;  and  the  con- 
ventional view-point,  180. 

COOPERATION  BETWEEN  TEACHER  AND  PUPIL: 
its  importance,  11,  13-16,  18,  33,  34;  its  results,  30,  33; 
methods  of  securing,  32,  133,  135-137,  140,  188,  189,  193- 
203. 

CURVES  OF  PROGRESS  IN  LEARNING:  for  irregu- 
larity of  process,  103,  104;  for  a  psychology  class,  106; 
for  an  embryology  class,  108;  for  learning  Russian,  110; 
for  a  price  clerk,  115;  for  a  copy  clerk,  116;  for  mem- 
ory test  in  typewriting  and  ball-tossing,  129,  130;  for 
learning  English  grammar,  160. 

DARWIN'S  principle  of  descent,  significance  of,  174,  175. 
DEMOLINS,  concerning  L'ecole  des  Roche,  189. 
DISCIPLINE:    conditions    under    which    unnecessary,     13; 

cause  of  failure  in,  14;  versus  sentimentality,  48,  192; 

in  student  organizations,  80,  81;  for  girls,  140;  laxness 

of,  192. 
DISCRIMINATION,  a  test  of  mental  development,  172. 

EARHART,  MISS  LIDA  B.,  on  habits  of  thinking,  51,  52. 

ECONOMY  OF  EFFORT:  a  human  characteristic,  46,  47, 
64;  in  learning  process,  122,  157. 

EDUCATION:  a  problem  of,  4,  32;  suggestions  for  teach- 
ing natural  sciences,  23-25 ;  and  laboratory  method,  25 ; 
utilization  of  instincts  for,  29;  versus  schooling,  34; 
differences  between  human  and  animal  educability,  36; 


INDEX  243 

EDUCATION— Continued 

flexibility  of  method  in,  44;  interpretation  6f  life,  68; 
new  ideas  in,  133,  134;  a  purpose  of,  170;  two  types  of 
books  on,  195;  two  contrasting  ideals  of,  196;  meaning 
of,  197;  and  rapid  readjustment,  199;  and  adaptation, 
202;  and  industrial  change,  206;  through  action,  209; 
for  efficiency,  222;  in  relation  to  farm  life  fifty  years 
ago,  208-211.  See  LEARNING,  METHOD,  SCHOOL. 

EFFICIENCY:  difficulty  of ^  defining  ^  human  efficiency,  36; 
a  first  essential  of  efficient  teaching,  38;  determined  by 
art  of  teacher's  questions,  59;  to  teach  children  to  think, 
a  problem  of,  64;  methods  for  gaining  in  teaching,  137, 
146,  147,  223;  relation  of  states  of  mind  and  body  to, 
141;  use  of  time  and,  145;  and  imitation,  202;  origin  of 
term,  220;  and  originality,  224,  225;  education  for,  222; 
a  fertile  environment  for,  226;  in  business  world,  Chap. 
VII. 

EHRLICH:  experiments  of,  67;  opinion  of  teachers  about, 
177. 

EMBRYOLOGY,  curve  of  and  explanation,  107-109. 

ENGLISH,  an  experiment  in,  78-85. 

ENTHUSIASM:  transference  of,  31,  34,  187;  a  source  of, 
76;  caused  by  craft  work,  77;  a  school  asset,  136,  142, 
146,  147,  223. 

ENVIRONMENT:  in  relation  to  criminals,  22;  and  educa- 
tion, 202 ;  importance  in  school,  190 ;  and  versatility,  226. 

EXPERIENCE:  as  interpretation,  68,  174,  225;  in  terms  of 
adventure,  33 ;  in  relation  to  habits,  175 ;  in  relation  to 
mind  content,  31. 

EXPERIMENTS :  in  suggesting  methods  of  work,  55 ;  their 
success  dependent  on  mental  attitude,  67,  69;  and  prog- 
ess,  69,  70;  in  relation  to  child  problems,  70;  which 
vitalize  work  of  teacher,  70,  71 ;  in  teaching  composition, 
72;  effect  of  experiments  on  teacher  and  pupil,  75,  76; 
in  teaching  physics,  76;  in  teaching  English,  78-85;  in 
teaching  American  history,  85-89;  in  teaching  Greek 
history,  89,  90;  in  teaching  Latin,  90-98;  in  learning  Rus- 
sian, 109,  110;  on  memory  of  typewriting  and  ball-toss- 
ing, 128-131 ;  factor  of  success  in,  98. 

FATIGUE,  relation  to  maximum  effort,  113,  114. 
FEVEREL,  RICHARD,  educational  method  used  with,  39. 
FLEXIBILITY,  importance  of  mental,  215,  Chap.  VII.    See 

also  ADAPTATION,  SUCCESS. 
FOREIGN  LANGUAGES:   learning  of,   25,   122,    123,   153, 

154,  162,  163 ;  plateaus  in  learning,  105. 
FRANKLIN,  BENJAMIN,  on  habit,  185. 


244  INDEX 

FREDERICK,  THE  GREAT,  instance  of  adaptability  of,  41. 
FREEDOM,  importance  for  children,  3,  4,  33. 

GAMES :  relation  to  normal  growth,  3 ;  perennial  zest  for,  7, 
8;  a  natural  outlet,  15;  adult  misunderstanding  of,  16, 
17.  See  also  ADVENTURE,  ACTION,  RACIAL  INSTINCTS. 

GANG:  psychology  of,  136,  138;  importance  of  winning 
leader  of,  139. 

GENIUS,  misunderstood,  177,  178. 

GEOGRAPHY,  teaching  of,  23,  24,  145. 

GOLDSMITH,  OLIVER,  a  successful  teacher  of,  33. 

GORDON,  MARGERY,  an  experiment  in  teaching  composi- 
tion, 72-76. 

GRAHAME,  KENNETH,  on  view-point  of  childhood,  5. 

GRAMMAR,  ENGLISH:  failure  of  logical  method  oi 
teaching,  101;  plateaus  in,  105,  124;  uneven  progress  in 
learning,  120;  on  the  study  of,  154,  159,  161-163;  curve 
of  learning  for,  159-161. 

GRAY,  MASON  D.,  an  experiment  in  teaching  Latin  by,  90- 
98. 

HABITS:  of  thinking,  26,  29,  52,  53,  166;  relation  between 
unconscious  adaptation  and  habits,  46,  47,  150;  respon- 
sibility of  teacher  in  forming,  47;  difficulty  of  changing, 
48,  180,  181;  and  adaptation,  48,  49;  in  solution,  59;  in 
learning  process,  121,  142,  143 ;  higher  and  lower  orders 
of,  122,  123,  143,  153,  163;  how  to  prevent  bad  habits, 
137,  142;  and  conduct,  135;  elemental,  153,  154;  con- 
cerning nascent,  157;  and  environment,  166;  and  con- 
servatism, 168  ^  difference  between  men  and  animals, 
172 ;  and  experience,  175 ;  pedagogical,  178 ;  among  busi- 
ness men,  179;  importance  of  change  in,  182,  183;  how 
to  avoid  fixed  habits,  184;  and  school  environment,  190; 
basis  of  good  school  habits,  193. 

HALL,  G.  STANLEY,  on  farm  and  education,  208-211. 

HAMMOND,  MISS  NELLIE,  an  experiment  in  teaching  his- 
tory by,  85-89. 

HARVEY,  treatment  of  for  discovery  of  circulation  of  the 
blood,  170. 

HEREDITY,  not  a  sure  guide  for  judging  children,  37. 

HISTORY:  teaching  of,  24;  form  of  questions  in,  62;  "town- 
meeting"  method  of  teaching  history,  78;  an  experi- 
ment in  teaching  American  history,  85-89;  an  experi- 
ment in  teaching  Greek  history,  89,  90. 

HOLMES,  SHERLOCK,  6,  7. 

HOME:  its  position  in  modern  education,  206,  207,  212;  in 
education  fifty  years  ago,  208,  211;  industries  of,  208- 
211;  a  comparison,  212;  investigation  of  home  work  of 
pupils,  56,  57. 


INDEX  245 

HUNT,  MISS  ELIZABETH  H.,  an  experiment  in  teaching 

English  by,  78-85. 
HUXLEY,  on  material  for  nature  study,  24. 

IDEAS,  continual  reorganization  needed  for  growth,  167-169. 

IMAGINATION :  an  instance  of,  1,  2 ;  and  racial  instincts, 
22;  human  versus  animal,  201,  202;  and  business,  213. 

INACTION,  its  dangers,  22,  28,  29,  33,  34,  197. 

INDIVIDUALITY:  study  of  in  school  method,  39,  40,  53; 
encouragement  of,  154. 

INDUSTRIAL  CHANGE:  results  of,  3,  Chap.  VII;  effect 
on  play-spirit,  4;  significance  for  school,  206;  and  causes 
of  business  failure,  212. 

INEFFICIENCY.   See  EFFICIENCY. 

INITIATIVE:  need  of  more  pupil,  57,  58;  loss  of,  64;  and 
inefficiency,  202 ;  reports  of  school  surveys  on  pupil  ini- 
tiative, 58;  source  of,  224. 

INTELLIGENCE,  relation  to  variability,  175,  176. 

INTEREST:  children  unaffected  by  derived  interests,  5,  9; 
source  of,  26,  27;  definition  of,  27;  secured  through  an 
experiment,  73;  and  responsibility,  76,  95;  and  activity, 
77,  223;  and  progress  in  learning,  147;  expression  va- 
ries with  individual,  158. 

INVESTIGATIONS:  importance  in  school,  25,  31,  65,  99; 
concerning  games,  8;  of  art  of  questioning,  60-65;  con- 
cerning wages,  221. 

JAMES,  WILLIAM:   concerning  the  life  of  an  infant,  68; 

on  old  fogyism,  169;  on  release  of  mental  forces,  182. 
JUDGMENT,  failures  in  conventional,  177. 

KNOWLEDGE,  its  importance  not  understood  by  children,  32. 
KNOWLTON,  D.  C,  an  experiment  in  teaching  Greek  his- 
tory, 89,  90. 

LATIN:  an  experiment  in  studying,  90-98;  plateaus  in  rela- 
tion to  study  of,  162.  See  FOREIGN  LANGUAGES. 

LEARNING:  learning  through  doing,  64,  65,  77,  98,  99,  165, 
209,  223,  225,  226;  laws  of,  101,  102;  curves  of,  103,  104 
106,  110,  115,  116,  129,  130,  160;  plateaus  in,  104,  105,  125, 
158;  irregularity  in,  102,  111,  112,  158;  effect  of  physical 
condition  on,  113,  114,  143,  144;  "warming  up"  period  in, 
114;  similarity  of  process  in  class  room  and  in  a  business 
concern,  115-118;  effect  of  monotony  on,  118;  effect  of 
encouragement  on,  118,  119;  psychology  of  learning 
chess,  125;  unconscious  element  in,  120,  142,  150,  164; 
elimination  of  useless  in,  121,  122,  153 ;  economy  of  ef- 
fort and,  122,  152;  advantage  of  study  of  learning  to 


INDEX 


teachers,  132;  economy  in,  133,  143;  significance  of  pu- 
pil attitude  in,  138;  effect  of  external  conditions  on, 
140;  effect  of  certain  mental  states  on,  141,  147,  148, 
149;  short  cuts  in,  155;  importance  of  time  in,  127,  164, 

McMURRAY,  FRANK,  on  pupil  initiative,  57. 

MEMORY:   tests  of,  128-131;  T.  L.  Bolton  on,  155. 

METHOD  :  relative  importance  of,  27  ;  need  of  flexibility  in, 
30,  31,  33,  40,  184;  illustrations  of  flexibility,  40-42;  and 
interest,  26;  in  relation  to  instincts,  32;  used  with  Rich- 
ard Feverel,  39;  in  relation  to  efficiency,  39,  45,  223;  re- 
sults of  an  investigation  of  study  method,  52;  use  of 
study  program,  54;  which  hinders  initiative,  58;  trial 
and  error,  66,  67,  151,  164,  201,  202;  "town-meeting" 
method  of  teaching  history,  78;  faults  of  logical  method 
in  teaching,  101  ;  a  test  of  value  of,  101  ;  of  elimination, 
149;  of  teaching  composition,  72-76;  for  gaining  in  effi- 
ciency, 223. 

MEYERHARDT,  on  individual  differences  in  thinking,  155. 

MODERN  ROMAN  STATE.  See  EXPERIMENT  IN  STUDY- 
ING LATIN. 

MONOTONY:  revolt  of  children  from,  10,  12,  17,  18,  19,  34; 
and  popular  amusements,  20;  means  of  offsetting,  18,  19, 
163;  and  fatigue,  69;  an  effect  of,  112;  and  retardation, 
118;  and  plateaus,  162,  163. 

MONTAIGNE:   on  contentment,  69;  on  liberty,  184. 

MULLER,  on  learning  process,  127. 

MUNN,  MISS  ABBIE  F.:  on  effect  of  physical  condition 
on  progress,  113,  119;  on  effect  of  encouragement,  119; 
on  higher  and  lower  orders  of  habits,  123;  on  use  of 
plateaus,  125,  126. 

NATIONAL  COST  CONGRESS,  179,  180.    See  HABITS. 

NATURAL  SCIENCES,  teaching  of,  23-25. 

NERVOUS  SYSTEM:  time  necessary  for  nerve  centers  to 
mature,  3;  how  nervous  processes  become  "set,"  128; 
nerve  currents  take  path  of  least  resistance,  142;  con- 
nection between  sensory  and  motor  nerves,  170-172  ; 
nervousness  and  inaccuracy,  123,  124;  nervous  currents 
require  outlet,  197  ;  difference  between  nervous  reaction 
of  men  and  animals,  170,  1/1,  175. 

NEWTON,  reason  for  idleness  of,  177. 

NOGI,  GENERAL,  concerning  suicide  of,  167. 

ORDAHL,  LOUISE  ELLISON,  on  consciousness  in  karn- 
ing,  121. 


INDEX  247 

ORGANIZATION:  its  use  in  a  school  experiment  in  study- 
ing English,  78,  79,  80;  in  studying  American  history, 
86,  87;  in  studying  Greek  history,  89,  90;  in  studying 
Latin,  90-92;  its  fascination  for  children,  188,  189,  191, 
223-226;  its  use  in  school,  99,  136,  138,  189,  193,  194. 

ORIGINALITY,  and  efficiency,  224. 

PATER,  WALTER,  on  habit,  166. 

PERSISTENCE,  importance  of,  134,  149. 

PHYSICAL  CONDITION,  effect  on  progress,  113,  141-144. 

PHYSICS,  an  experiment  in,  76,  77. 

PILZECKER,  on  learning  process,  127. 

PLATEAUS:  in  learning  process,  104,  109,  111,  164;  signifi- 
cance of,  105,  124,  125,  126,  159,  162 ;  as  protests  against 
cramming,  127,  159;  monotony  in  relation  to,  163. 

PLAY.   See  ACTION,  GAMES,  RACIAL  INSTINCTS,  SPORTS. 

PLAYGROUNDS,  public,  purpose  of,  135. 

PORTLAND  SCHOOL  SURVEY  COMMITTEE,  report 
of,  23,  61,  203.  See  SURVEYS. 

PRIMITIVE  INSTINCTS.   See  RACIAL  INSTINCTS. 

PROGRESS:  through  trial  and  error  method,  67;  through 
experiment,  69;  in  learning,  102,  105-107,  140;  lack  of 
continuity  in,  105,  107,  109,  111,  119,  158;  relation  of 
high  score  to,  112;  and  monotony,  118;  unevenness  in, 
119;  effect  of  success  and  encouragement  on,  118,  119; 
through  organized  activities,  138;  as  affected  by  states 
of  mind  or  body,  113,  118,  141-144,  146,  147;  and  re- 
adaptation,  204;  through  elimination  of  useless,  121. 

PUNISHMENT,  discrimination  in,  172,  173. 

PUPIL-GOVERNMENT:  experiments  in,  78,  85;  moral  ef- 
fect of,  88;  use  of,  187,  188,  193;  various  forms  of,  189; 
misconceptions  concerning,  188. 

QUESTIONING,  art  of,  58,  59,  65.  See  METHOD  AND  TEACH- 
ING. 

RACIAL  INSTINCTS:  survival  of,  2,  9,  17-20,  29;  utiliza- 
tion of,  4,  10,  12,  18-20,  23,  27,  29,  31,  32,  99,  137,  140, 
189,  223;  and  school  atmosphere,  11,  14,  15,  21,  136;  and 
public  amusements,  20;  control  of,  18,  22,  23,  30;  per- 
version of,  17,  21,  28;  and  juvenile  delinquency,  29;  and 
outdoor  sports,  8,  9;  and  school  interest,  26,  99;  and 
Boy  Scout  movement,  186;  and  pupil-government,  187, 
189.  See  ACTION,  ADVENTURE. 

REAVIS,  W.  C,  on  habits  of  study,  53. 

RELAXATION,  adult  reading  for,  6. 

REPPLIER,  AGNES,  concerning  modern  education,  133. 


248  INDEX 

RESPONSIBILITY,  how  children  react  to  a  sense  of,  64,  65, 

76-82,  84,  85,  95,  136,  138. 
RETARDATION  AND  MONOTONY,  118. 
ROUSSEAU:   on  unnecessary  effort,  46;  on  experience,  68; 

on  the  most  useful  rule  in  education,  150:  on  habits, 
^  164;  his  £m\le,  195. 
RUGER:   on  unconscious  element  in  learning,  121,  150;  on 

hindrances  to  learning,   147;  on  progress  in  learning, 

148. 
RULES:  their  value  in  preliminary  stages  of  teaching,  40; 

importance  of  a  few,  49. 
RUSKIN,  JOHN,  his  teachers'  estimate  of,  177. 

SCHOOL:  and  utilization  of  racial  instincts,  4,  11,  20,  23-25, 
27,  29,  30,  31,  99;  and  laboratory  method,  23-25,  211; 
school  surveys,  see  SURVEYS;  school  atmosphere,  its  im- 
portance, 136,  140,  191 ;  school  and  community,  203,  204 ; 
as  affected  by  industrial  changes,  206;  as  supplement  to 
home,  207. 

SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT:  its  success,  220,  222;  Tuck 
School  Conference  on,  179.  See  BUSINESS  HOUSES. 

SCOTT,  WALTER,  concerning  his  teacher,  185. 

SELF-CONTROL,  training  in,  136. 

SENTIMENTALITY:  hostility  of  children  toward,  138; 
versus  discipline,  V48;  dangers  from,  47,  48. 

SPENCER,  HERBERT,  on  education,  195,  196. 

SPORTS,  perennial  zest  for,  7,  8,  9.     See  GAMES. 

STEVENS,  MISS  ROMIETT,  investigations  by,  59-65. 

STEVENSON,  ROBERT  LOUIS,  on  adventure,  1,  6,  7. 

STONE,  N.  I.,  on  wages  and  efficiency,  122. 

STUDY:  use  of  study-program,  54;  ignorance  of  how  to 
study,  51-58. 

SUCCESS:  relation  of  mental  attitude  to,  68;  source  of  in 
school  experiments,  98 ;  dependent  upon  rapid  readapta- 
tion,  204,  205,  212,  215,  216;  in  modern  business,  213, 
215 ;  and  mental  flexibility,  215. 

SUGGESTION:  valuable  moment  for,  151,  165;  an  experi- 
ment in,  55 ;  in  teaching,  185. 

SURVEYS:  report  of  recreation  surveys,  28,  29;  report  of 
Ohio  State  School  Survey  Commission,  58,  61,  63;  re- 
port of  Portland  School  Survey  Committee,  23,  61,  203  ; 
report  of  East  Orange  School  Survey  Committee,  58; 
report  of  Carnegie  Foundation  on  Vermont  Schools,  23, 
58,  203. 

TASHIRO,  concerning  chemical  changes  of  nerves,  145. 
TAYLOR,  F.  W.,  concerning  scientific  management,  221,  222. 


INDEX  249 

TEACHING:  factors  of  success  in,  28,  40,  137,  140,  147,  170; 
problems  of,  4,  32,  64,  144,  224;  a  first  essential  of  effi- 
cient, 37;  two  opposite  methods  of,  38,  39;  definition  of 
efficient  method  of,  39;  importance  of  flexibility  in,  44; 
two  guiding  principles  in,  45 ;  a  test  of  good,  53,  60,  65, 
165;  and  a  study  program,  54;  and  pupil  initiative,  58; 
and  art  of  questioning,  59,  60,  61,  62 ;  a  defect  of,  62,  63  ; 
and  experiments,  70,  71,  72,  85;  psychological  moment 
to  help  in,  150-153,  165 ;  and  fixed  habits,  184;  and  school 
atmosphere,  136,  140,  191;  methods  of,  134;  use  of  sug- 
gestion in,  185.  See  EDUCATION,  LEARNING,  METHOD, 
SCHOOLS. 

TESTS,  their  use,  161,  162. 

THINKING:  training  in,  25,  51,  83,  149;  how  to  prevent  im- 
itative, 25,  30,  31;  prerequisites  of,  26;  differences  be- 
tween mind  content  of  child  and  adult,  32;  a  test  of 
habits  of,  50-53,  55;  and  efficient  teaching,  64;  interpre- 
tation necessitates,  69,  174;  discrimination  in,  149,  172; 
individual  ways  of,  155;  change,  important  for  pro- 
ductive, 175;  timorous,  196;  influenced  by  preconceived 
notions,  148. 

THORNDIKE,  EDWARD  L.,  on  learning  process,  119. 

TRADITION  IN  EDUCATION,  135. 

TRIAL  AND  ERROR  METHOD,  66,  67,  151,  164,  201,  202. 

TRUANT  SCHOOLS,  reasons  for  their  success,  30. 

TUCK  SCHOOL  CONFERENCE  ON  SCIENTIFIC 
MANAGEMENT,  179. 

U.  S.  COMMISSIONER  OF  EDUCATION,  on  efficiency, 

222. 
U.  S.  COMMISSIONER  OF  LABOR,  reports  of,  77. 

VARIABILITY:  first  conditions  of,  37;  and  intelligence,  175, 

176. 

VERSATILITY :   its  use,  225 ;  the  environment  for,  226. 
VOCATIONAL  TRAINING,  3,  4. 
VOLTAIRE,  on  individual  differences,  45. 

WHITE,  ANDREW  D.,  concerning  his  teacher,  178. 
WUNDT,  on  thinking,  69. 

YOUTH:  romantic  spirit  of,  1,  12;  activity  of,  11,  12,  15-17, 
20,  21,  23;  misunderstanding  of,  2,  11.  See  ACTION,  AD- 
VENTURE, RACIAL  INSTINCTS. 


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Special  emphasis  is  laid  on  the  everyday  problems  arising  in 
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The  Childhood  and  Youth  Series 

deficiencies,  nerves  and  nervous  energy,  sleep,  stimulants  and  nar- 
cotics, etc.,  receive  careful  treatment.  The  Intellectual  phases 
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causes  and  prevention  of  juvenile  delinquency  receive  fullest 
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All  the  aspects  of  a  rational  education  based  on 
the  nature  and  needs  of  childhood  claim  atten- 
tion here. 

The  various  types  of  schools,  the  various  methods  of  teaching 
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Another  group  of  volumes  deals  with  special  traits  of  child- 
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and  personal  appearance,  the  use  of  money,  etc. 

The  entire  series  is  under  the  general  editorship 
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versity of  Wisconsin,  and  probably  the  best  and 
widest  known  authority  on  educational  subjects 
in  America. 

Every  book  in  the  Childhood  and  Youth  Series 
is  of  value  to  the  parent  who  wishes  the  best  for 
his  child  and  to  the  teacher  who  is  seeking  higher 
efficiency. 

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AUTHORS  OF  BOOKS  IN  THE 

CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH  SERIES 

SARAH  LOUISE  ARNOLD 

Dean  of  Simmons  College,  Boston ;  author  of  Way  marks  fwr  Teach- 
ers, Stepping  Stones  to  Literature,  Etc. 

J.  CARLETON  BELL 

Professor  of  the  Art  of  Teaching,  University  of  Texas;  Managing 
Editor,  The  Journal  of  Educational  Psychology. 

FREDERICK  ELMER  BOLTON 

Dean,  School  of  Education,  University  of  Washington;  author  of 
The  Secondary  School  System  of  Germany,  Etc. 

MARY  MARTHA  BUNNELL 

Instructor  in  Home  Economics,  University  of  Wisconsin, 

C.  WARD  CRAMPTON 

Director  of  Physical  Education,  New  York  City  Public  Schools, 
author  of  Physiological  Age. 

JESSE  B.  DAVIS 

Principal  of  Central  High  School,  and  Vocational  Director,  Grand 
Rapids;  author  of  Vocational  and  Moral  Guidance, 

JASPER  NEWTON  DEAHL 

Professor  of  Education,  West  Virginia  University. 

J.  CLAUDE  ELSOM 

Assistant  Professor  of  Physical  Education,  The  University  «f 
Wisconsin. 

J.  J.  FINDLAY 

Professor  of  Education,  University  of  Manchester,  England;  author 
of  Arnold  of  Rugby,  The  School,  Etc.,  Etc. 

ARNOLD  L.  GESELL 

Department  of  Education,  Yale  University;  author  of  The  Normal 
Child,  Primary  Education. 

MICHAEL  F.  GUYER 

Professor  of  Zoology,  The  University  of  Wisconsin;  author  of 
Animal  Micrology. 

COLONEL  L.  R.  GIGNILLIAT 

Superintendent  The  Culver  Military  Academy,  Culver,  Ind. 

WILLIAM  HEALY 

Director  Juvenile  Psychopathic  Institute,  Chicago;  Associate  Pro- 
fessor of  Nervous  and  Mental  Diseases,  Chicago  Policlinic;  In- 
structor Harvard  Summer  School. 

W.  H.  HECK 

Professor  of  Education,  University  of  Virginia;  author  af  Mental 
Discipline  and  Educational  Values,  Etc. 

The  Bobbs-Merrill  Company 

Publishers,  Indianapolis 


AUTHORS  OP  BOOKS  IN  THE 

CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH  SERIES 

FLORENCE  HOLBROOK 

Principal  of  the  Forestville  School,  Chicago;  author  of  Hound  the 
Year  in  Myth  and  Song,  Studies  in  Poetry,  Etc. 

DAVID  STARR  JORDAN 

Chancellor  of  Stanford  University ;  author  of  Care  and  Culture  of 
Men,  Footnotes  to  Evolution,  Etc.,  Etc. 

C.  A.  McMURRY 

Director  of  Normal  Training,  Superintendent  of  Schools,  DeKalb, 
Illinois;  author  of  A  Series  of  General  and  Special  Methods  in 
School  Work. 

JUNIUS  L.  MERIAM 

"  "upervision 
Normal  School  Education,  Etc. 

JAMES  T.  NOE 

Professor  of  Education,  University  of  Kentucky. 

RAYMOND  RIORDON 

Director  of  the  Raymond  Riordon  School,  onChodikee  Lake,  N.  Y.; 
author  of  Lincoln  Memorial  School— A  New  Idea  in  Industrial 
Education,  Etc. 

WALTER  SARGENT 

Professor  of  Art  Education,  University  of  Chicago ;  author  of  Fine 
and  Industrial  Arts  in  the  Elementary  Schools. 

FRANK  CHAPMAN  SHARP 

Professor  of  Philosophy,  The  University  of  Wisconsin ;  author  of 
Shakespeare's  Portrayal  of  the  Moral  Life,  Etc. 

ALFRED  E.  STEARNS 

Principal  of  Phillips  Academy,  Andover,  Mass.;  author  of  various 
articles  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  Outlook,  Etc. 

WINTHROP  ELLSWORTH  STONE 

President  Purdue  University ;  Member  of  the  Indiana  State  Board 
of  Education. 

THOMAS  A.  STOREY 

Professor  of  Hygiene,  College  of  the  City  of  New  York,  Secretary 
Fourth  International  Congress  on  School  Hygiene. 

M.  H.  STUART 

Principal  Manual  Training  High  School,  Indianapolis. 

BLANCHE  M.  TRILLING 

Director  of  Women's  Gymnasium,  The  University  of  Wisconsin. 

GUY  MONTROSE  WHIPPLE 

Assistant  Professor  of  Educational  Psychology,  Cornell  University; 
author  of  Questions  in  Psychology,  Etc. 

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The  Childhood  and  Youth  Series 

NATURAL  EDUCATION 

Mrs.  Stoncr  explains  the  methods  by  which  she  made  hot 
daughter  "the  best  developed  child  in  America"  mentally,  mor- 
ally and  physically;  the  simple  yet  astonishing  methods  which 
make  for  the  health,  happiness  and  wisdom  of  any  normal  child. 

By  MRS.  WINIFRED  SACKVILLE  STONER 
Director-General  Women's  International  Health  League 

LEARNING  BY  DOING 

The  way  to  learn  how  to  run  an  automobile  is  by  running  It 
Professor  Swift  shows  how  this  practical  principle  may  be  ap- 
plied to  history,  literature  and  language-study.  A  book  that 
breaks  up  monotony  in  teaching,  stirs  enthusiasm,  makes  the 
parent  and  teacher  see  the  child's  point  of  view. 

By  EDGAR  JAMES  SWIFT 

Professor  of  Psychology  and  Education,  Washington 
University ;  author  of  Mind  in  the  Making,  Etc. 

THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SPELLING 

Can  your  child  spell?  Business  and  professional  men  think 
the  children  of  this  generation  poor  spellers.  What's  the  trouble 
with  the  way  spelling  is  taught  at  home  and  in  school  ?  The 
authors  of  this  book  make  a  simple  but  scientific  analysis  of  the 
whole  question. 

By  WILLIAM  A.  COOK 
Assistant  Professor  of  Education,  University  of  Colorado;  and 

M.  V.  O'SHEA 
Professor  of  Education,  University  of  Wisconsin 

THE  HIGH-SCHOOL  AGE 

The  "teen  age"  is  the  critical  age,  the  dangerous  age  of  ado- 
lescence, when  the  future  of  the  child's  life  is  largely  determined 
and  the  bending  of  the  twig  inclines  the  tree.  Professor  King  here 
shows  parent  and  teacher  how  to  solve  the  difficult  and  all-im- 
portant problems  of  this  crisis. 

By  IRVING  KING 

Professor  of  Education,  University  of  Iowa ;  author  of 
Psychology  of  Child  Development,  Etc. 

Each  volume  with  Special  Introduction  by  the  General  Editor, 
If.  V.  O'Shea,  Analytical  Table  of  Contents,  Carefully  Selected 
Lists  of  Books  for  Reference,  Further  Reading  and  Study,  and  a 
Full  Index. 

Each,  12mo,  Cloth,  One  Dollar  Net 

The  Bobbs-Merrill  Company 

Publishers,  Indianapolis 


The  Childhood  and  Youth  Series 

THE  WAYWARD  CHILD 

A  practical  treatment  of  the  causes  of  juvenile  delinquency  and 
methods  of  its  prevention,  by  one  who  has  extensive  experience 
in  dealing  with  the  young. 

By  MRS.  FREDERIC  SCHOFF 

President  National  Congress  of  Mothers  and  Parent-Teacher 

Association;  President  Philadelphia  Juvenile  Court 

and  Probation  Association ;  Collaborator,  Home 

Education  Division,  Bureau  of  Education 

FEAR 

A  comprehensive,  concrete  discussion  of  (1)  psychology  of  fear; 
(2)  varieties  of  fears  found  normally  in  childhood  and  youth;  (3) 
ways  in  which  fears  are  expressed  and  their  effects;  (4)  treatment 
ef  fear  in  home  and  school. 

By  G.  STANLEY  HALL 

President  Clark  University,  Worcester,  Mass.;  author  of 
Adolescence,  Educational  Problems,  Etc. 

SELF-HELP 

Practical  aid  to  parents  and  teachers  in  teaching  children  to 
do  things  for  themselves,  written  by  a  mother,  teacher  and  keen 
student  of  Madame  Montessori,  Froebel,  Pestalozzi,  et  al. 

By  DOROTHY  CANFIELD  FISHER 
Author  of  A  Montessori  Mother,  Eiiglish.Composition  of  Rhetoric.  Etc. 

THE  USE  OF  MONEY 

How  to  train  the  young  to  appreciate  (1)  what  money  repre- 
resents  in  labor  and  privilege ;  (2)  how  it  may  best  be  expended. 

By  E.  A.  KIRKPATRICK 

Head  of  Department  of  Psychology  and  Child-Study,  State  Normal 

School,  Fitchburg,  Mass.;  author  of  Fundamentals  of 

Chll4-Study,  The  Individual  in  the  Making,  Etc. 

THE  BACKWARD  CHILD 

A  volume  dealing  with  the  causes  of  backwardness  among  chil 
dren  and  also  the  technique  of  determining  when  a  child  is  back 
ward,  and  practical  methods  of  treating  him. 

By  ARTHUR  HOLMES 

Dean  of  the  General  Faculty,  Pennsylvania  State  College ; 
author  of  The  Conservation  of  the  Child,  Etc. 

Each  Volume  With  Special  Introduction  By  the  General  Editor,  M.  V, 
0'Shea,  Analytical  Table  of  Contents,  Carefully  Selected  Lists  of  Books 
lor  Reference,  Further  Reading  and  Study,  and  a  Full  Index. 

Each,  12mo,  Cloth,  One  Dollar  Net 

The  Bobbs-Merrill  Company 

Publisher*.  Indianapolis 


THE  best-developed  child  in  America,  Winifred 
Sackville  Stoner,  Jr.,  could  speak  several  lan- 
guages and  wrote  for  newspapers  and  magazines 
at  the  age  of  five,  and  yet  retained  all  of  the  char- 
acteristics of  a  healthy,  playful  child. 

At  the  age  of  nine  she  passed  the  college  entrance  examinations, 
and  now  at  twelve,  she  has  mastered  eight  languages,  has  written 
nine  books,  is  a  teacher  of  Esperanto,  an  accomplished  musician, 
and  is  stronger  physically  than  the  average  child  of  her  age. 

She  Is  not  a  GENIUS  nor  a  WONDER  CHILD,  but 
simply  a  NORMAL  CHILD  WELL  DEVELOPED  through 
a  system  of  NATURAL  EDUCATION  invented  by  her 
mother,  Mrs.  Winifred  Sackville  Stoner,  from  whom  she 
has  received  her  training. 

Any  mother  can  do  for  her  child  what  Mrs.  Stoner  has  done 
for  her  daughter,  if  she  employs  Mrs.  Stoner's  methods. 

Any  mother  can  learn  Mrs.  Stoner's  system  from  her  book,  in 
which  she  analyzes,  outlines  and  describes  her  entire  plan  as 
carried  out  during  the  education  of  her  daughter  from  the  cradle* 
t*  her  tenth  year. 

Natural  Education 

By  WINIFRED  SACKVILLE  STONER 
Director-General  Women's  International  Health  League 

•  Is  a  book  which  every  parent  should  read  and  study  as  one  of 
the  first  duties  of  devoted  and  successful  parenthood. 

Like  all  the  books  in  the  famous  Childhood  and  Youth 
Series,  Natural  Education  is  provided  with  a  special  in 
troduction  by  the  general  editor,  Dr.  M.  V.  O'Shea,  of  the 
Department  of  Education  in  the  University  of  Wisconsin, 
an  analytical  table  of  contents,  carefully  selected  lists  of 
books  and  magazines  for  reference,  further  reading  and 
study,  and  a  full  index. 

12mo,  Cloth,  One  Dollar  Net 

The  Bobbs-Merrill  Company 

Publishers,  Indianapolis 


HPHE  "teen  age"  is  the  critical  age.  Boys  and 
JL  girls  cause  parents  and  teachers  more  anxiety 
between  thirteen  and  twenty  than  at  any  other 
time.  That  is  the  period  of  adolescence — the 
formative  stage,  the  high-school  age,  the  turning 
point  when  futures  are  moulded. 

It  is,  at  the  same  time,  the  period  at  which  the  boy  and  the  girt 
are  most  baffling  and  difficult  to  handle;  when  an  ounce  of  di- 
plomacy can  accomplish  more  with  them  than  a  pound  of  dictum. 

As  a  specialist  and  an  authority,  Professor  Irving  King 
has  prepared  a  veritable  handbook  on  parental  and  peda- 
gogical diplomacy  which  will  ease  the  way  of  parents  and 
teachers  in  dealing  with  children  during  the  formative 
period  and  lead  to  far  better  results.  He  devotes  special 
attention  to  the  question  of  co-education  and  the  question 
of  handling  mature,  maturing  and  immature  children  of  the 
same  age.  He  clears  up  the  problems  so  confusing  to  the 
adult  mind  and  offers  helpful  suggestions. 

The  physical  changes  which  take  place  during  the  early  ado- 
lescent age;  the  intellectual  and  emotional  developments  which 
parallel  them;  and  questions  of  health  and  school  work  as  well 
as  practical  matters  pertaining  to  the  conservation  of  the  energy 
and  efficiency  of  high-school  pupils  are  given  full  consideration  in 

The  High-School  Age 

By  IRVING  KING 

Assistant  Professor  of  Education,  University  of  Iowa;  author  of 
Psychology  of  Child  Development,  Etc. 

No  parent  or  teacher  can  read  this  work  without  feeling  a 
keener  appreciation  of  the  vital  period  in  the  child's  life  and 
without  being  assisted  to  a  better  understanding  of  how  to  deal 
most  wisely  with  the  boy  or  girl  who  is  passing  rapidly  from 
thildhood  to  maturity. 

TiHE  HIGH-SCHOOL  AGE  is  one  of  the  books  in  the 
CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH  SERIES,  undoubtedly  the 
most  important  collection  of  practical  educational  works 
for  parents  and  teachers  ever  produced  in  this  country. 
As  a  guide  for  the  home  or  school  it  is  unexcelled. 

12mo,  Cloth,  One  Dollar  Net 

The  Bobbs-Merrill  Company 

Publishers,  Indianapolis 


CAN  your  child  spell?  Spelling  takes  more  at- 
tention in  the  home  than  almost  any  othef 
subject  taught  in  the  schools.  The  drills  and  prao 
tice  exercises,  the  daily  preparation  for  subsequent 
work  in  the  class-room  call  for  the  parent's  co- 
operation. 

No  subject  taught  in  the  schools  requires  more  individual  at- 
tention than  Spelling,  on  the  part  of  the  teacher,  who  is  continu- 
ally confronted  with  new  problems  as  to  how  best  the  subject  may 
be  presented  to  meet  individual  differences  on  the  part  of  pupils, 

William  A.  Cook,  Assistant  Professor  of  Education  in 
the  University  of  Colorado,  and  M.  V.  O'Shea,  Professor  of 
Education  in  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  have  conducted 
a  series  of  investigations  extending  over  a  considerable 
period,  with  a  view  to  contributing  to  the  solution  of  the 
various  problems  connected  with  the  teaching  of  spelling. 

First,  an  examination  of  the  spelling  history  and  abilities  of  a 
large  number  of  pupils  in  a  rather  general  way  was  carried  on. 
Second,  a  study  was  made  of  a  small  group  in  a  very  thorough- 
going manner.  Third,  followed  an  examination  of  about  300,000 
words  in  common  usage,  both  in  speech  and  correspondence,  in 
order  to  determine  which  words  should  receive  attention  in  th« 
spelling  vocabulary. 

The  Child  and  His  Spelling 

By  WILLIAM  A.  COOK  and  M.  V.  O'SHEA 

contains  the  results  of  these  experiments,  and  presents  a  thor 
oughgoing,  practicable  explanation  of  (1)  the  psychology  of  speU 
ing;  (2)  effective  methods  of  teaching  spelling;  (3)  spelling  needt 
of  typical  Americans ;  (4)  words  pupils  should  learn. 

The  material  contained  in  The  Child  and  His  Spelling 
will  be  found  of  the  greatest  value  to  teachers  and  to  par- 
ents who  desire  to  co-operate  at  home  with  the  work  of 
the  school  in  the  education  of  children.  This  work  con- 
stitutes one  volume  of  the  CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH 
SERIES. 

12mo,  Cloth,  One  Dollar  Net 

The  Bobbs-Merrill  Company 

Publishers,  Indianapolis 


A  HUNDRED  thousand  American  mothers 
venerate  the  name  of  Mrs.  Frederic  Schoff 
(Hannah  Kent  Schoff).  She  has  dedicated  her 
life  to  the  work  of  making  the  new  generation 
better,  stronger  and  more  efficient,  and  has  been 
an  inspiration  to  every  woman  in  the  land  to  do 
her  full  part  to  insure  the  future  of  America. 

Through  her  leadership  of  the  National  Congress  of  Mothers 
*nd  Parent-Teacher  Associations,  she  is  the  presiding  genius  of 
%he  greatest  educational  movement  this  country  has  known. 

As  President  of  the  Philadelphia  Juvenile  Court  and  Pro- 
bation Association,  she  has  had  an  opportunity  to  study 
the  wayward  children  of  a  great  city.  She  has  carried  on 
extensive  investigations  among  men  and  women  confined 
in  prisons  and  correctional  institutions  to  learn  from  them 
at  first  hand  to  what  they  attribute  their  downfall. 

By  this  broad  experience  she  is  qualified  to  speak  jwith 
unique  authority  on  the  training  of  children  in  the  home, 
and  especially  on  the  problem  of  the  wayward  child. 

She  makes  a  forceful  appeal  to  parents  both  because  of  their 
natural  desire  to  guard  their  children  from  all  harmful  influ- 
ences and  because  they  realize  that  home  training,  which  comes 
first  of  all  in  every  child's  life,  moulds  his  morality.  If  any 
parent  doubts  this,  he  needs  more  than  ever  to  study 

The  Wayward  Child 

By  HANNAH  KENT  SCHOFF 

President  National  Congress  of  Mothers  and  Parent-Teacher  Associations; 
President  Philadelphia  Juvenile  Court  and  Probation  Association 

She  shows  beyond  all  doubt  that  the  early  training  in  the  home 
can  make  or  unmake  characters  at  will,  that  homes  in  which 
children  have  been  brought  up  carelessly  or  inefficiently  are 
largely  responsible  for  the  wayward  children  who  later  make 
up  our  criminal  population. 

THE  WAYWARD  CHILD  is  one  of  the  books  in  the 
CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH  SERIES,  undoubtedly  the 
most  important  collections  of  practical  educational  works 
for  parents  and  teachers  ever  produced  in  this  country. 
As  a  guide  for  the  home  or  school  it  is  unexcelled. 

12mo,  Cloth,  One  Dollar  Net 

The  Bobbs-Merrill  Company 

Publishers,  Indianapolis 


IF  YOUR  CHILD  grows  up  to  be  a  spendthrift 
blame  yourself.    It  is  the  fault  of  the  training 
received  in  childhood,  or  the  lack  of  it. 

But  parents  are  hard  pressed  for  ways  and  means 
of  teaching  their  children  how  to  use  money — 
how  to  save  it,  and  how  to  spend  it. 

Should  a  child  have  a  regular  allowance?  Should  he  be  given 
money  when  he  asks  for  it  or  only  when  he  really  needs  it? 
'Should  he  be  given  money  as  a  reward  or  as  a  payment  for 
services?  Should  he  be  allowed  to  work  for  money  at  an  early 
age? 

Professor  E.  A.  Kirkpatrick  has  made  a  special  study  of 
children  to  learn  their  attitude  toward  money  in  the 
home  and  the  world  outside.  He  has  carried  on  investi- 
gations to  determine  their  natural  inclinations  and  decide 
how  parents  may  encourage  the  right  inclinations  and 
curb  those  which  lead  to  the  unhappy  extremes  in  the 
use  of  money — miserliness  or  prodigality. 

The  Use  of  Money 

By  E.  A.  KIRKPATRICK 

State  Normal  School*  Fitchburg,  Mass.;  author  of  Fundamental!  ef 
Child  Study,  The  Individual  in  the  Making,  etc, 

It  offers  sound  advice,  which  any  parent  will  be  fortunate  to 
obtain.  It  tells  when  the  child  should  begin  to  learn  the  real 
value  of  money  and  how  to  dispose  of  it  properly,  and  suggests 
methods  by  which  this  training  may  be  given.  It  clears  the 
mind  of  all  doubt  as  to  how  to  induce  thrift  in  the  child,  so  that 
in  later  life  he  will  be  better  equipped,  not  only  for  business, 
but  in  the  conduct  of  the  household  and  private  affairs. 

THE  USE  OF  MONEY,  like  all  the  other  books  in  the 
famous  Childhood  and  Youth  Series,  is  designed  to  be  of 
immediate,  practical  benefit  to  the  average  parent,  guard- 
ian or  teacher. 

12mo,  Cloth,  One  Dollar  Net 

The  Bobbs-Merrill  Company 

Publishers,  Indianapolis 


HONESTY  is  not  an  inborn  trait.  It  is  not  the 
essential  inheritance  of  children  of  "good 
families."  It  is  the  delicate  product  of  careful 
training.  A  proper  regard  for  mine  and  thine  is 
effected  by  a  thousand  subtle  influences  of  hered- 
ity and  environment,  hom£  and  school  and  com- 
munity conditions,  physical  and  mental  health. 

Experts  have  subjected  the  whole  question  to  minute  scrutiny 
and  proved  that  the  cultivation  of  honesty  is  a  matter  of  personal 
application  to  the  individual  child.  They  have  laid  the  founda- 
tion for  an  entire  new  "Science  of  Conduct." 

Dr.  Healy,  Director  of  the  Juvenile  Psychopathic  Insti- 
tute and  adviser  to  the  Juvenile  Court  in  Chicago,  is  one 
of  these  experts.  He  gives  the  parent,  teacher  and  social 
worker  the  benefit  of  broad,  sane,  sound  observation. 

The  quickest  way  to  a  cure  for  stealing,  Dr.  Healy  believes,  is 
to  find  the  way  to  the  inner  mental  life  of  the  delinquent,  and 
he  reveals  how  this  may  be  accomplished  in 

Honesty 

By  WILLIAM  HEALY 

His  aim  is  to-  prevent  and  to  cure  stealing  by  children.  By  the 
faithful  description  of  many  actual  cases  of  theft,  their  underly- 
ing causes  and  successful  or  bungling  treatment,  he  shows  what 
to  guard  against  and  what  to  foster ;  how  to  make  a  proper  diag- 
nosis and  effect  the  cure.  He  writes  with  tolerance,  sympathy, 
kindliness,  for  he  loves  children. 

THE  CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH  SERIES,  in  which 
HONESTY  is  issued,  includes  works  on  the  special  traits 
of  childhood,  as  well  as  books  dealing  with  various  phases 
in  the  physical,  mental,  moral  and  social  development  of 
the  child. 

12mo,  Cloth,  One  Dollar  Net 

The  Bobbs-Merrill  Company 

Publishers,  Indianapolis 


THE  civilized  world  is  awakening  to  the  rights 
of  the  child,  and  to  the  fact  that  its  right  of 
rights  is  the  right  to  be  well-born.  Heredity  is 
recognized  as  a  factor  of  supreme  importance  in 
determining  the  child's  nature;  yet  there  is  no 
subject  on  which  there  is  such  general  ignorance 
and  so  much  superstition. 

What  is  "prenatal  influence,"  and  what  are  its  limitations? 
What  traits  and  habits  may  be  transmitted  ?  How  far  does  the 
parent's  body  and  brain  and  character  affect  the  child's  heritage 
at  birth,  and  how  far  the  more  remote  ancestor's  ?  Do  degen- 
erate parents  beget  degenerate  children?  To  what  extent  are 
physical  and  mental  defects  due  to  inheritance  and  not  to  en- 
vironment or  training  ? 

On  these  and  similar  questions  there  is  the  widest 
difference  of  opinion  and  belief,  and  the  grossest  error, 
among  intelligent  people  who  are  not  familiar  with  the 
latest  results  of  scientific  study. 

Professor  Guyer,  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  who  has 
studied  the  whole  problem  of  heredity  in  a  thoroughgoing  way, 
has  prepared  a  book  to  take  away  the  mystery  and  misunder- 
standing, and  to  enlighten  parents,  teachers  and  social  workers 
on  an  all-important  subject.  He  calls  it 

Being  Well- Born 

By  MICHAEL  F.  GUYER 

Professor  of  Zoology  in  the  University  of  Wisconsin, 
Author  of  Animal  Micrology,  etc. 

His  work  includes  an  account  of  the  new  science  of  Eugenics 
which  is  striving  for  the  betterment  of  the  race,  the  conservation 
pf  good  stock  and  the  repression  of  bad. 

This  concrete,  practical  book  on  Heredity  and  Eugenics 
naturally  falls  in  THE  CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH 
SERIES,  which  undertakes  to  treat  child-nature  from 
every  viewpoint,  and  which  is  the  most  complete,  scien- 
tific and  satisfactory  collection  of  books  on  child-problems 
npw  published. 

12mo,  Cloth,  One  Dollar  Net 

The  Bobbs-Merrill  Company 

Publishers,  Indianapolis 


WHEN  is  a  child  backward?  May  he  be 
backward  in  some  ways  and  forward  in 
others?  Are  children  backward  by  birth,  or  made 
so  by  neglect  or  faults  of  training  ?  What  are  the 
signs  of  backwardness  ?  Is  there  any  way  of  de- 
termining whether  a  child  is  permanently  back- 
ward? When  and  how  may  backwardness  be 
cured  ? 

These  questions  and  others  like  them  are  of  supreme  impor- 
tance to-day  to  teachers  and  parents.  People  are  seeking  light 
from  every  source  upon  the  problems  of  the  backward  child. 

Dr.  Holmes,  Dean  of  the  Pennsylvania  State  College,  has 
studied  backward  children  in  the  clinic  and  laboratory  as 
well  as  in  the  home  and  school,  and  he  is  recognized  as  a 
first  authority  in  America  on  arrested  development. 

Out  of  a  fund  of  scientific  knowledge  he  has  written  his  book 
in  simple,  sympathetic  and  popular  style  to  help  those  who  are 
striving  to  help  slow  boys  and  girls  and  reclaim  the  mentally 
arrested.  He  tells  the  parent  and  the  teacher  what  they  need  to 
know  in  language  they  can  understand. 

Backward  Children 

By  ARTHUR  HOLMES 
Author  of  The  Conservation  of  the  Child,  etc. 

Dean  Holmes  treats  concrete  cases  of  backwardness  in  detail 
and  pictures  vividly  the  various  types.  Everything  he  says  is 
definite,  practical,  helpful. 

THE  CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH  SERIES,  in  which 
BACKWARD  CHILDREN  is  issued,  is  a  collection  of  books 
by  recognized  authorities  on  the  development  and  train- 
ing of  children,  under  the  general  editorship  of  M.  V. 
O'Shea,  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin. 

12mo,  Cloth,  One  Dollar  Net 

The  Bobbs-Merrill  Company 

Publishers,  Indianapolis 


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